LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party has submitted a memorandum to the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh, demanding the release of CCTV footage and video recordings of candidates at polling booths in seven assembly constituencies where bypolls were held last month.
The constituencies include Katehari, Kundarki, Phulpur, Majhawan, Meerapur, Khair, and Ghaziabad, according to a statement issued by the party here. The SP had lost all these seats in the November 13 bypolls.
The memorandum, highlighting the party's demand for transparency in the electoral process, was handed over by party representatives KK Srivastava, Harishchandra Singh, and Radheshyam Singh, the statement added.
Bye-elections to nine assembly constituencies were held on November 13 and its results declared on November 23.
The SP had won the polls on two seats of Sishamau (Kanpur) and Karhal (Mainpuri). The BJP had won six seats while its ally RLD bagged one seat of Meerapur Muzaffarnagar).
The Centre last week tweaked an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents such as CCTV camera and webcasting footage as well as video recordings of candidates to prevent their misuse.
Based on the recommendation of the Election Commission of India, the Union law ministry on December 20 amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict the type of "papers" or documents open to public inspection.