HC to hear plea to remove symbols from MCD poll EVMs

New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking direction to the State Election Commission to remove election symbols from the ballots in the electronic voting machines (EVM) for the municipal polls.

The court said that it will hear the plea on May 27.

The plea was filed by Alka Ghalot, who unsuccessfully contested the election to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) from Ward No. 027-S, Nawada, held on April 23, 2017.

She has urged the court to use photographs of the contesting candidates on the ballot paper of the balloting unit of the EVMs.

"In the presence of photograph of the contesting candidate on the ballot paper there is no need of any other election symbol. Even illiterate voters can identify their candidate by seeing the photograph of candidates and cast his vote in secrecy," Ghalot said.

Alka Ghalot's counsel H. S. Gahlot told the court that Ghalot is continuously working for the welfare of the people and wants to again contest the civic elections, which is likely to be held in 2022, or even earlier.

"There is a real fear of losing, as the petitioner (Alka Ghalot) would be allotted a new election symbol just 15 days before the day of poling, whereas, some other candidates would contest election on reserved symbols, which is a blatant violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India," the petitioner said.

The advocate further said that the state poll panel has failed to hold free and fair municipal corporation elections in Delhi by adopting the practice of reserving election symbols of recognized political parties.