Don’t allot symbols to candidates with names in ULB voter lists: Congress to SEC

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun

The Congress has demanded that in the three-tier Panchayat elections, the State Election Commission should not allot symbols to the candidates having names in voter lists of the urban local bodies.

The Pradesh Congress Committee vice president Suryakant Dhasmana has written a letter to the State Election Commissioner in this regard. He said that the party has attached the order of the Uttarakhand High Court dated July 11 in which it ordered a stay on the State Election Commission’s order allowing candidates having names in the voter lists of urban local bodies and Panchayats to contest Panchayat elections with its letter.

He said that in light of the HC order, the SEC should not allot symbols to the candidates coming under the purview of the HC order. “If such candidates, who are not eligible to contest, are allowed to take part in the elections and emerge victorious then as per the HC order their election will get nullified,’’ he said.

Dhasmana claimed that the SEC has deliberately committed such a mistake. He said that such conditions where there are a large number of such candidates who have names in the ULBs have been created due to the pressure of the state government due to which SEC issued a wrong order.