All the 17 candidates chosen by the Congress party in the first list released by the party are capable and would win from their seats in Assembly polls, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi said on Tuesday.
‘It would not be proper to attach the name of any of the chosen candidate to a faction. All the candidates are to fight polls collectively and win from their seats’, he told reporters here.
Jogi said that the Election Commission agreed to three of the four of party’s suggestions for ensuring fair polls in Bastar region of the State. ‘It is not understandable why the Election Commission did not agree to our fourth suggestion.This would have ensured completely fair polls in Bastar’, he said.On being asked that most of the names in the first list are his supporters, Jogi remarked: ‘The candidates had been selected by party’s President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi’.
‘This is no time to look into who supports whom but to fight the polls collectively against the BJP for forming a Congress Government in Chhattisgarh’, the former Chief Minister said.
He said that no information was provided by him to the Congress Screening Committee regarding the candidates. ‘Although I did offer my suggestions in three meetings to the Screening Committee Chairman C P Joshi’, he said.
Jogi said that the BJP won in Bastar due to bogus voting during the last elections. ‘This was the reason behind me and other Congress leaders putting forward four suggestions to the Election Commission for ensuring fair polls in Bastar’, he said.
The suggestions had demands made such as Vigil through Satellite Imaging, Video Recording at Polling Centres, Conduct of polls in two phases and assigning poll duty to the employees using a lottery system, the former Chief Minister said.
In other places, the polling team has four members while for Bastar there is only one person who conducts the polls. This raises questions on conduct of fair polls in the region, he said.
‘This is because like two last Assembly polls the BJP by deploying its favourite employees on duty in polling centers would conduct irregularities,’ Jogi said. .Vice Chancellor of Dr C V Raman University, Bilaspur, Dr Surekha Thakkar said that Community Radio could be an ideal platform for promoting SPIC Macay activities.
Vice Chancellor of Sarguja University B l Sharma stressed on the need to encourage SPIC Macay for upliftment of art. During the meeting, Chhattisgarh Housing Board Commissioner Sonmani Borah provided information on the efforts being made for promotion of cultural events in the State.