Six oppn parties move EC over BJP name on ballot paper

Leaders of six Opposition parties on Saturday moved the Election Commission alleging display of party name only under the BJP symbol on EVMs during a mock poll in West Bengal's Barrackpore constituency.

A delegation comprising senior Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ahmed Patel and Trinamool leaders Dinesh Trivedi and Derek O'Brien met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora over the issue and demanded that either all such EVMs be removed from the remaining phases of elections or names of other parties be added too.

“On EVMs, the letters BJP are visible under party's symbol. No party can use the party's name and its symbol together,” Singhvi said flashing images of the ballot paper purportedly used on the EVMs during the mock poll in Barrackpore.

BJP leader Arjun Singh is contesting against Trinamool candidate Dinesh Trivedi, a former railway minister.

Trivedi demanded that the Commission either remove all machines that mention BJP clearly or add the names of all other parties on the ballot paper on all EVMs.

Trivedi also described the use of “faulty ballot paper” as a “clear fraud on the people” and an attempt to “hack the EVMs”.

Trinamool leaders had submitted an identical complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal on Friday.

The Election Commission, in a letter to the West Bengal CEO said that there was nothing to suggest that that the ballot paper reflected the name of the party.

The Commission also said that that the symbol used by the BJP was the same that was used in the 2014 election.