BJP demands polling booths in housing societies, high-rises for LS polls

Party slams EC's media monitoring committee's functioning as erratic and whimsical

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said that the Election Commission’s (EC) media control and monitoring committees had been “noticed to be erratic and whimsical and sometimes even influenced by extraneous considerations”.

“We have cases of wrongful and illogical rejection of media creatives and unwarranted delays,” the party said in a representation to the poll panel, pointing to “the latest episode” where the committee concerned for Delhi did not approve the “legitimate requests by the party, and this caused a delay of nearly 10 days”. Considering that the campaign time was very short, such delays could jeopardise election campaigns”, it said.

The party also asked the panel to “improve or revise instructions” to ensure that the BJP’s “genuine requests for media approvals are entertained as per the norms and that there are no delays”. The EC should encourage resolution of observations across the table and reduce the time lags for the issue of approvals, it said.

The ruling party also requested the EC to set up polling booths in housing societies and residential high-rises in urban centres before the general elections.

In its representation, the party pointed to the EC’s September 2023 directive instructing its chief electoral officers to identify urban areas where group housing societies and high-rise residential buildings had adequate rooms such as common facilitation areas, community halls, and schools available on the ground floor within the premises to set up polling stations for resident electors.

The BJP said it had welcomed the EC’s initiative but was “yet unaware of setting up (of) new polling stations” in housing societies.

The BJP said it had “very fondly hoped” that the EC’s “clear directions to address this long standing demand of urban voters” would have spurred its officials to “have earnestly applied themselves to the task”.

In its representation, signed by four BJP leaders including Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Mansukh Mandaviya, the party said “such a move would surely improve the voting percentages and participation of citizens in this festival of democracy.”

It asked the EC to direct electoral officers in states and districts to call special meetings of political parties to inform them of the setting up of new polling stations. “We sincerely hope that the EC will ensure setting up such polling stations well before the announcement of General Elections,” it said.

The BJP also demanded that the EC put in place a two-step identification of voters before they are allowed to enter the voting compartment in a polling booth, which would help check rigging. “Foolproof record of such two-step identification must be available to the EC and political parties for assured fair polls,” it said.

It also said that the EC should ensure 100 per cent videography and webcasting coverage instead of the current practice of covering about 50 per cent of polling stations.