MVA demands white paper on voter lists malpractices, probe into MahaYuti pre-poll doles

Mumbai, Oct 18 The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has urged the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra to rein in alleged ‘malpractices’ ahead of the state Assembly elections of November 20 and issue a white paper on the purported irregularities in voter lists, and pre-poll sops.

A delegation comprising top leaders of MVA allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT) called on the CEO S. Chockalingam and submitted a memorandum highlighting its grievances, while Leader of Opposition (Council) Ambadas Danve has sent a similar missive to the ECI.

In the submission, the MVA has referred to certain serious allegations pertaining to voter list manipulations in the state, particularly the Chikhli-23 Assembly constituency in Buldhana.

It has accused the ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of irregularities in the voter rolls by filing numerous Form 7 and 8 objections ostensibly intended to delete names of voters who may be supporters of the MVA allies.

In the past few days, some 3,000 such forms have been filed specifically targeting Congress-MVA supporters, SC/ST and Muslim voters, which is now labelled as the ‘Chikhli Pattern’ by the Opposition allies.

Citing examples, the MVA memorandum has named a Congress activist Swati Lahane and NCP (SP) Secretary Sanjay Gadekar’s wife and Sarpanch (village head-woman) Kiran Gadekar, who have been allegedly disenfranchised.

“These developments, where voters who have cast their vote in the same Assembly constituency for the last 30-40 years are being disenfranchised, point to a troubling strategy aimed at undermining the electoral process and silencing dissenting voices ahead of the upcoming elections,” said the MVA.

It said that this strategy of deleting voters’ names through misuse of Form 7 is a dangerous development and there are apprehensions that it is being replicated all over Maharashtra by the BJP.

The delegation to Chockalingam included: Congress state chief Nana Patole, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and Working President M. Arif Naseem Khan, Satej D. Bunty Patil, Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s Jitendra Awhad, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ambadas Danve and Anil Desai, plus others.

Danve, in his letter to the ECI has pointed to alleged grave violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by the MahaYuti regime of Shiv Sena-BJP-Nationalist Congress Party which issued a whopping 359 GRs (Government Resolutions) on a single day (October 15).

“This unusually high number of GRs was posted on the government’s website in a hurried manner to push through major financial, administrative and policy decisions just hours before the MCC took effect. By Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 16) another 30-40 GRs were uploaded. But after the ECI raised concerns and issued a warning, these GRs were suspiciously removed from the government website,” said Danve.

He raised the issue of how after the MCC took effect, the MahaYuti regime made appointments of Chairpersons-Vice Chairpersons of 27 state-run corporations, to reward ruling party loyalists and prevent rebellion before the elections which blatantly violated the laws, set a dangerous precedent of misuse of power during election season and reducing the spirit of fair play in the elections.

The MVA has demanded a comprehensive probe into these aspects, suspend/nullify the GRs with financial/administrative implications, action against the guilty, a white paper on the voter lists manipulations, and remedial measures to ensure these are not repeated in the future.

The MVA constituents apprised the media in detail about the points they raised with the poll authorities and the memoranda submitted for necessary action, though the MahaYuti has not yet reacted to the developments.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: qnajmi@gmail.com)

Source: IANS