A petition filed in the Delhi High Court on Friday has sought to remove election symbol from the ballot paper, including the unit of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), in the municipal elections in Capital.
The plea filed by Alka Gahlot, who had contested and lost the civic body polls in 2017, said the State Election Commission puts the reserved symbol on the ballot paper in “blatant violation” of the provisions of the Constitution and the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act as there is no reference to political parties in the Constitution and the Act.
The plea said that in the 2017 civic body elections, photographs of contesting candidates were put on the balloting unit of the EVM.
“In the presence of photograph of the contesting candidates on the ballot paper, there is no need of any other election symbol. Even illiterate voters can identify their candidate by seeing the photograph and cast their vote in secrecy,” it said.
“Further, the name of the contesting candidate along with his photograph becomes a unique combination and eliminates need for any another election symbol,” the plea said.
The plea alleged that the presence of reserved symbols for candidates of recognised political parties creates bias and violates Article 14 (equality before law) of the Constitution and restricts the entry of individuals in the corporation.
Ms. Gahlot contended that if contests the election again in 2022, there is a fear of losing as she would be allotted a new election symbol just 15 days before the polling day whereas some other candidates would contest elections on reserved symbol.
The authorities have failed to hold free and fair elections as it is absolutely rigged by the presence of reserved election symbol of recognised political parties and its placing on ballot papers, it claimed.
Additionally, the plea said, “the presence of symbol of political parties on the ballot paper is such that it shifts the focus of the contesting candidate from the people of his ward to the political party bosses [who has the power of nomination for party ticket]”.
