MC poll: Controversy rages over distribution of voter slips

JALANDHAR: A controversy has erupted over the distribution of voter slips in the ongoing canvassing for the municipal elections. Candidates have lodged a strong protest against the district administration which had asked them to distribute the voter slips individually to the voters in their respective areas.

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 12

A controversy has erupted over the distribution of voter slips in the ongoing canvassing for the municipal elections.

Candidates have lodged a strong protest against the district administration which had asked them to distribute the voter slips individually to the voters in their respective areas. Calling it a blatant violation of the election norms, Congress leader Jagdish Raja said it was the job of the Block Level Officer (BLO) concerned and not the contesting candidate to do the job.

“A majority of the freshers are contesting the municipal elections this time. How will they balance their canvassing and the distribution of voters’ slips at the same time? This is causing a lot of harassment to the candidates,” said Raja.

Meanwhile, Congress leader and RTI activist Sanjay Sehgal had shot a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Punjab, informing them about the new plan adopted by the district administration of Jalandhar to save funds.

“As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) norms, it is the duty of the Block level Officers (BLOs) to make votes and also distribute these slips to the voters. However, they were doing it earlier, this year, they had asked the candidates to do it,” said Sehgal, informing that he had got a call from the Election Commission of India (ECI), confirming that the matter had been taken up with the Returning Officer in Jalandhar.

Also, he informed that that despite asking repeatedly, the district administration had refused to provide the electronic voters list of the city.

When asked, SDM-cum-Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) Rajiv Verma said that the BLOs distribute voters’ slips only during the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections. “There is no such provision to distribute voters’ slips by the BLOs in municipal polls. It never happened before,” said Verma.

However, refuting his claim, Sehgal said that earlier, the job was done by the Block level Officers (BLOs) only during the 2007 and 2012 elections, but this is the first time the district administration had asked the candidates to do it at their own level. He said it seemed that the administration, facing a financial crunch, was trying to save funds on getting the slips printed for the ongoing polls.