The Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath who reached Raipur on Fridayevening on a two-day visit to poll bound Chhattisgarh, held interactions with representatives of various political parties here.
Sampath drove straight to Raj Bhawan from airport and later held brief meetings with State’s ruling BJP, main Opposition Congress and other parties at the New Circuit House where the BJP and the Congress complained to the CEC against each other for violating the model code of conduct.
Sources said that the BJP delegation complaint to the CEC that the Election Commission was biased towards the saffron party and not acting on its complaints against the Congress while the Commission seemed to be highly prompt while acting on Congress' complaints against the BJP. The Congress delegation had raised the issue with Sampath about alleged open violation of model code of conduct by some BJP ministers.
The CEC will hold a meeting on Saturday with district collectors and Superintendent of Police to make a thorough review of Maoist insurgency-hit 18 assembly seats which are scheduled to witness polling in the first phase on November 11. Officials said that holding peaceful polling in Bastar division's 12 seats and six seats of Rajnandgaon district is a big challenge before the Commission as the these seats have a track record of sporadic Maoist violence. Even, the Maoists had fired upon a chopper of the Indian Air Force in Bastar in last Assembly polls held in late 2008.
The sources added that the Commission was undecided so far about security agencies suggestion regarding relocating dozens of polling booths from jungle pockets of restive Bastar to safer places.