Margao: Claiming that the State Election Commission (SEC) has failed to uphold the essence of the election process, Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar said people of Goa will defeat the ‘money power’ of BJP who he accused of using government machinery to win the ZP elections and using election officials to create obstacles for candidates.
“I am confident that SEC is working under pressure from the BJP government. “We demand that either the SEC do the awareness of election or permit political parties and candidates to do it through means of meetings and campaigning” he said.
He pointed out that the SEC has not convened a single meeting of political parties while holding ZP elections and also questioned what efforts SEC has put to ensure maximum participation of voters on the voting day.
“BLO’s are also not distributing voter slips. Then, how can we expect maximum participation,” he added.
Chodankar said that Chief Minister, Ministers, BJP leaders are violating the code of conduct by taking meetings in various constituencies and gave examples of the same. He lamented that despite complaints, no action was taken against them.”
Chodankar also gave examples of BJP pressuring election officers to stop him and also their candidates.
He also lamented about the lack of safety measures for election duty staff.
South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha advised voters to vote for Congress instead of the independents, who he said are likely join other political parties later.
