Opposition parties in Jharkhand have unanimously asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to transfer all State officials –serving a particular position for over three years and directly or indirectly involved in conducting elections—in a bid to ensure fair polling during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The parties floated their concerns during a closed door meeting with a five-member team from the ECI in a Ranchi hotel on Wednesday.
“There are many officials who are loyal to the ruling government. It won’t be fair to conduct elections under the supervision of such loyalists, so we have asked the ECI to transfer any official holding a particular position for over three years,” said Congress’ Lohardaga legislator Sukhdeo Bhagat.
The ECI team met political parties separately and noted down their concerns. Sources said that a maximum of three representatives from each political party were allowed to meet the ECI team.
The opposition parties also demanded a single window system to simplify campaigning for the elections. Till now, the parties had to separately seek permissions for vehicles, sound and venue. The single window system, they said, will allow an easy, one-step solution to their campaigning needs.
Besides Bhagat, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) spokesperson Vinod Pandey and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson Manoj Kumar met the ECI team with their respective party’s demands. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Radha Krishna Kishore represented the BJP in a separate meeting with the ECI team.
The BJP requested the ECI not to club polling booths as it causes inconvenience to voters from the far off villages. It also claimed that the elections will be more peaceful this time since the NDA government has eradicated left wing extremism from many areas of Jharkhand.
The opposition parties expressed concern over possible malfunction of EVM machines and asked the ECI to put the EVM machines under scanner. The visiting ECI team, however, assured that Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used during the polls, so there was no question of EVM tampering or malfunction, sources said.
The opposition parties asked the ECI to increase the expenditure submission deadline of each candidate from 30 days to 60 days, said Manoj Kumar of RJD. He added that the RJD has separately requested the ECI to conduct the election in one phase.
The last Lok Sabha election for the 14 constituencies in Jharkhand was conducted in three phases. The ruling BJP won 12 of 14 seats and JMM bagged the remaining two in the 2014 polls.
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) requested the ECI to put a scanner on the use of black money during elections by the bigger political parties.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded public holiday on the day of polling.
