Goa Assembly Elections 2017: AAP approaches EC, alleges bias by state govt officials; raises symbol issue

The Aam Aadmi Party approached Election Commission on Tuesday and sought deterrent action against hostile officials of the Goa government and raised the issue of symbols identical to party's ‘broom’ being used by some to mislead the people.

Filing a complaint, AAP has listed out seven instances in the last three months when its volunteers were allegedly threatened and assaulted and yet no action was taken against the culprits.

Out of the seven complaints, four have been made against Panaji police station, the rest of them are against other police stations and officials in the civic administration.

Delhi unit convenor of AAP Dilip Pandey accused many officials of working under the influence of the ruling BJP.

“AAP volunteers are being beaten up. Police stations have threatened our advertising agencies to pull down our advertisements even before the Model Code of Conduct came into force.

“Our meetings have been stopped by flying squads even after requisite permission was taken,” AAP's National Secretary Pankaj Gupta said in his complaint to the ECI.

The party stressed that for a fair and unbiased elections, the EC ought to take some deterrent steps against erring officials to send a signal that any show of bias and favouritism shall not be tolerated by it.

AAP also raised the issue of symbols identical to its broom that are being used in other campaigns.

“The torch and the broom symbol are not a part of the free symbols list of the Election Commission. Despite this, an identical battery or torch is used by some candidates during their campaign. “This is being done to mislead the people ahead of the polls,” Pandey said.

With PTI Inputs