Deputy Election Commissioner Sudhir Tripathi on Tuesday held a meeting with the representatives of political parties during his two-day visit of the State for reviewing the poll preparations in the city.
During the meeting, the representatives of the Congress party complained about four police officers posted at the same place for a long time, who, they alleged, were working for the ruling party in the State.
The State Congress general secretary Ramesh Varlyani and Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak, alongwith some of their supporters, complained to the Deputy Election Commissioner that the four police officers - ADGP (Intelligence) Mukesh Gupta, IG GP Singh, ASP IH Khan and ASP Sweta Sinha - had openly been favouring the BJP during the last assembly polls.
The BJP, while complaining about lax security arrangements for polling, demanded strengthening of the security at all the polling booths so that the electorate could cast their votes without any fear.
Government vehicles and ambulances were being misused for transporting illicit liquor and money, they complained.
During the Assembly polls, 700 companies of security personnel were deployed, but now only 50 companies have been deployed, the representatives stated.
In the assembly election, the security personnel were removed 48 hours before the voting. During this period, the BJP had openly lured the voters. Making several more complaints, the Congress leaders told Tripathi to ensure conduct of impartial polls in the state.
Meanwhile, BJP university cell vice-president Nareshchandra Gupta and other office-bearers - Mohan Pawar, Chhagan Mundada, Ramnarayan Vyas and Akash Sharma - complained to the Deputy Election Commissioner that the security arrangements at the polling booths were weak.
The people do not come to cast their votes due to fear. Therefore, security arrangements should be strengthened at all the sensitive polling booths, they
stated.
They also said that the officers deployed at the polling booths are not following the model code of conduct strictly, because of which the electorates have to face various problems.
They urged the Election Commission that along with the security arrangements, all other facilities under the code of conduct should also be made available, not only in Bastar, but also in all the constituencies also.
BSP State president Sadanand Markandey's complaint was of the word 'Matdaan'. He considers the word 'Matadhikar' more proper in place of 'Matdaan'.
He said, in democracy, free election should be done, but here, even after the ban, liquor is distributed during election period. By distributing currency and clothes, efforts are being made to woo the electorate. Alleging misuse of government vehicles, he wanted the Election Commission to look into all the issues raised by his party and take action.