Team Herald
PANJIM: A delegation of opposition political parties will meet Chief Election Commissioner Dr Nasim Zaidi on March 6 to apprise him of the ‘serious lapses’ by the Goa election office in the postal ballot process. Of the 15,590 postal ballots issued, the Chief Election Office (CEO) has received over 10,000 ballots till date, with the last date for receiving being the morning of March 11.
All opposition parties, including the former coalition partner in the BJP-led government, MGP, at a joint meeting on February 23 had unanimously demanded cancellation of the postal ballots held till date and called for re-polling by EVMs for a free and fair voting process.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) Secretary Girish Chodankar said that the delegation would be meeting a three-member ECI team led by Zaidi on Monday afternoon, where they would explain that the postal balloting process has been conducted in violation of the ECI guidelines and as such has resulted in a mockery of the election process.
“We are not against postal balloting but 35 days time granted to service voters defeats the purpose of free and fair elections,” he said.
The opposition parties had earlier charged the CEO of leaking the serial numbers of the postal ballots to the BJP, and the party, they alleged, is misusing this to threaten and influence government employees to vote for them.
Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, MGP, Goa Forward Party, Goa Vikas Party, Goa Suraksha Manch and Goa Su-Raj Party have joined hands on the issue.
The delegation will also bring to the ECI’s notice about voting by military personnel in constituencies like Navelim, Ponda and Panjim.
