E-Paper
Municipal bodies remove 5.5 lakh poll publicity material
New Delhi
New Delhi
The three municipal corporations of Delhi have brought down over 5.5 lakh (0.55 million) posters, banners, flexes, boards and hoardings related to elections since the model code of conduct for the Delhi assembly elections came into force on January 6.
These belong to various political parties, officials in the three civic bodies said.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation claimed to have removed 2.78 lakh such “poll publicity-related material”; the highest in its Rohini zone.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) was next with 1.89 lakh, with maximum such objects removed from its ‘South Zone’ that includes areas such as Ambedkar Nagar, Aya Nagar, Chirag Delhi, Lado Sarai, etc.. The east Delhi municipality said it had removed 84,000 such items.
“After orders from the Election Commission, we deployed all our staff from 8 in the morning to 8 in the night every day to get all poll canvassing material removed,” said Radha Krishan, spokesperson, SDMC.
“The logic behind this is that voters should not be influenced by any political candidate claiming kinship on the grounds of caste, region or religion, by way of festive greetings, new schemes or offers by political parties just ahead of elections,” a senior official of the north Delhi municipality explained.
“Months or weeks before the day of voting, people should have a clear head on whom they want to vote for and no confusion should be created by last-minute publicity or announcements. Our efforts are all aimed in that direction,” an East Delhi Municipal Corporation official, who requested anonymity, said.
