'EVMs needed for fair mayoral polls'

For free and fair mayoral elections, the civic agency must be provided with electronic voting machines, said South Corporation’s Leader of Opposition Farhad Suri on Tuesday.

The Congress leader, who is running for the civic agency’s mayoral post, has written to the Lieutenant Governor demanding electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the polls to be held on Friday.

Last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party had won the South Delhi mayor’s post by just one vote.
The BJP’s chairman of the standing committee in South Delhi Municipal Corporation Subhash Arya faces Suri for the mayor’s post.

“For a democratic election, it is of utmost importance that the secrecy of a secret ballot be maintained. I seek immediate intervention to ensure elections scheduled on April 24 for mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee members are carried out in a free and fair manner,” Suri wrote in a letter and sent the copies to Chief Minister and the state’s election office.

“I request that votes be polled through EVMs to prevent any malpractice in the civic elections,” he added.

Fraudulent means
The Leader of Opposition alleged that the ruling BJP in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation uses fraudulent means in civic elections.

“The present ruling party by abusing its official position influences municipal secretary and carry out the scrutiny of ballot papers, which is a breach of the right of secrecy guaranteed to a voter under the Representation of People’s Act,” Suri said.

The municipal corporations’ mayoral polls remain a two-way contest between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress in all the three civic agencies. While the BJP is confident of winning in North and East Corporations, it faces a close fight in South Corporation.

BJP’s Ravinder Gupta and Harsh Sharma of Congress are fighting for the mayor’s post of North Delhi. BJP’s Harshdeep Malhotra is pitched against Rekha Rani of Congress for east Delhi’s mayoral post.

In the last mayoral elections of the South Corporation, Congress MP Parvez Hashmi did not turn up for the polls. Praveen Rana of Congress became the Deputy Mayor of South Corporation after the 2014 civic elections.