The Punjab Congress on Saturday urged the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold the entire panchayat election process (voting, counting, and the declaration of results) under the gaze of video cameras to ensure a free and fair contest.
In a press statement on Saturday, sate Congress vice-presidents Tarlochan Singh, Charanjit Singh Chani and Gurpreet Singh Kangar talked here about a memorandum submitted to the SEC, underlining the need for video recording the election process.
The voting is on July 3, and the results will be out the same day. The Congress has demanded that if the SEC is unable to ensure "compulsory videography" of the election process, it should allow the candidates to record the scenes at their own level.
"The experience of the zila parishad and block samiti elections marred by violence, booth capturing, and irregularities in counting raises apprehension of its repeat during the panchayat elections," said Tarlochan Singh.
Apprehending danger to the fairness of the process, the Punjab Congress asked for permission to video record the entire polling, counting and declaration of results on the request of any candidate at own cost and level in addition to the recording by the state election commission authorities.