2019 Lok Sabha elections: Party representatives meet EC officials
Kolkata: Representatives from various political parties on Monday met senior officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the state raising various issues related to the process of conducting the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Senior Trinamool Congress leaders including Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Bakshi brought to the notice of the Chief Electoral Officer a number of concerns. They have demanded that the ECI must inform them about the total number of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) which will be used during the seven-phase elections in the state.
The TMC leaders also wanted to know from the ECI officials as to in what type of media publications the candidates should publish their affidavits. It was not clearly mentioned in the ECI notification if a candidate has to publish his/her affidavit in national or regional newspapers. It was said that the candidates must publish the affidavits containing criminal antecedents, assets, liabilities, dependents, educational qualifications of candidates and the like in both print and electronic media. In the notification, it has been made mandatory that the candidates must publish their details in the media.
Chatterjee told reporters: "In some instances, there is a gap of 14 to 20 days and polling is being held in just
two constituencies. Why has this happened? We have raised the issue with the EC officials."
In pursuance of a judgment of the Supreme Court, the ECI has made it mandatory for all candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections to file an affidavit along with the nomination paper and the candidates are required to fill up all the columns. If any column in the affidavit is left blank, the Returning Officer will issue a notice to the candidate to submit a fresh one, duly filling up all columns.
After meeting the election officials at the CEO office, Partha Chatterjee said that the polls will be conducted in seven phases. There are some religious rituals of a particular community in May as a result of which voters belonging to that community may face problems.
He also added that his party has nothing to worry about as people in the state have witnessed the development works carried out by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her set of ministers. The number of total days allotted for the campaign by the candidates contesting the elections in various phases is different from one phase to another, Chatterjee pointed out.
All the Opposition parties in the state — Congress, BJP and CPI-M leaders who met the ECI officials stated that the hoardings and posters carrying the photographs of TMC leaders at various places have not been removed yet.
They also urged the ECI officials to ensure that all voters can safely reach their polling stations without any fear. The ECI officials assured them that all their demands would be looked into.
