CHENNAI: Representatives of several political parties, including DMK, AIADMK, CPI, and VCK, on Monday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) not to cover statues of leaders who have passed away, as part of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the upcoming Assembly elections.
They said only statues of living leaders may be covered during the election period. The demand was raised at a meeting of recognised political parties convened by Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik at the secretariat on Monday.
DMK organisation secretary RS Bharathi said the party reiterated several concerns it had already raised before the full commission of the ECI earlier this month. Among them was the need to revise the system of providing Form 17, which records polling details. Bharathi said discrepancies were often noticed between the vote count entered in the form and the later figures released by the commission.
Noting that B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary falls on April 14, he requested that Ambedkar statues be exempted from such measures. Bharathi said the CEO assured that appropriate orders would be issued on the matter.
AIADMK organising secretary D Jayakumar and Rajya Sabha MP IS Inbadurai raised concerns about supplementary electoral rolls containing names added after the publication of the final rolls.
Jayakumar also suggested including union government personnel in the ECI’s flying squads and said officials who act with bias should be kept away from election work.
VCK general secretary D Ravikumar urged the ECI to convey to the centre the need to ensure adequate supply of commercial LPG cylinders, as parties would need them to prepare food for cadre engaged in election work. He also sought consistency in the vote count details released after polling.
Other leaders, including CPI representatives N Periyasamy and GR Ravindranath, supported the demand not to cover statues of deceased leaders.
Representatives of the BJP, Congress, AAP and CPM were among those who attended the meeting.