‘Election Commission is functioning under pressure of State Govt’
   Date :06-Jan-2020

Election Commission is fu
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
RAIPUR,
 
Asserting that the Chhattisgarh State Election Commission is working under the pressure of Congress government, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Minister Brijmohan Agrawal while leveling allegations against C M House, said that this is the first time in the history of the state, that it is interfering in urban bodies’ election. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Brijmohan Agrawal said that the BJP is stating from the beginning that the State Election Commission is functioning under the pressure of state government and that is the reason why the objection raised by the party on the election procedure and irregularities in the election of Mayor and Speaker are being side-lined.
 
Agrawal alleged that during the elections for Mayor and Speaker, mobile is being allowed to polling booths and corporators have been compelled to take snap of the ballot to whom they have exercised their franchise. The corporators are being threatened. Those corporators whose family members are in government service, they are being threatened with dire consequences while in some other cases the corporators are lured allegedly by monetary gains. Terming the same of murder of democracy, Brijmohan Agrawal alleged that if the State Election Commission fails to take immediate cognisance of these issues, then the BJP will be bound to knock the doors of court.
 
He said winning or losing is not a big issue, in Assembly elections Congress won while in Lok Sabha BJP made a remarkable comeback. In Urban Bodies’ election, the BJP had given a tough fight to ruling Congress in almost every urban body but such rampant misuse of power and government machinery which is being done by ruling Congress, was not anticipated. Brijmohan Agrawal said as per norms, notifications for the elections to the post of Mayor, Speaker and Appellate Members are to issued at least 7 days before but the revised notification was issued on January 4 and the first General Body Meeting to elect Mayor, Speaker and Appellate Members are being held on January 6, which is violation of Municipal Corporation Act, 1956.
 
Also, till the election of Mayor, Speaker in Municipal Corporation and President in Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat are completed, till then every notification should be issued by District Returning Officer whereas, the amended notification was issued by Commissioner, Raipur Municipal Corporation. Agrawal said that in the original notification, issued on December 28, 2019, the election of Mayor, Speaker and Appellate Members were notified to commence from 12.30pm whereas in the amended notification the timing of election of Mayor and Speaker have been changed.
 
Also in case any amendment in timing or otherwise is carried out in the notification, again 7-days time period should be given before conducting the election. Hence since violation of norms has taken place, the BJP demanded that the election procedure should be cancelled and fresh notification with 7-days gap should be notified as per norms. He said while conducting elections in other urban bodies like Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Durg, etc, proper norms were followed. Only in the case of Raipur Municipal Corporation the violation are being made intentionally.