EXPRESSING SHOCK over the unopposed election of Samajwadi Party candidates in Zila Panchayat chairman elections in 12 districts, the State BJP today, called it the height of rigging and a mockery of the democratic system.
Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, BJP spokesman Dr Surjit Singh Dung said the Samajwadi Party nominees were defeated in the recently concluded Zila Panchayat members’ elections and it was impossible that the SP candidates could win the chairman’s elections. Elected Zila Panchayat members were kidnapped or ‘bought’ by the SP workers, it was alleged.
Regretting that the State Election Commission has failed to conduct fair and free elections, Dr Dung alleged it was dancing to the tune of the Mulayam Government for obvious reasons. Demanding an open inquiry in every district where the SP nominees had been elected unopposed, Dr Dung said almost all ‘healthy’ voters were provided with ‘helpers’ to cast their vote to ensure that the vote goes to a particular candidate after ‘buying’ the voter.