By Admin 
A delegation of Punjab BJP met the State Election Commissioner on Wednesday and demanded withdrawal of the decision to conduct voting through ballot papers instead of EVMs in the upcoming local body elections. Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar led the delegation, which included State Working President Ashwani Sharma, senior leaders Vijay Sampla, Som Prakash, Manoranjan Kalia, Avinash Rai Khanna, Rakesh Rathore and Vineet Joshi.
While talking to reporters, Jakhar alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in collusion with the State Election Commissioner has implemented the rule of voting through ballot papers as part of a conspiracy to manipulate the local body elections. He alleged that the ruling party had used the same method in the elections of Panchayat Raj institutions also.
Jakhar said that local body elections have traditionally been conducted through EVM machines, but after the announcement of the elections, the State Election Commission suddenly decided to conduct the elections through ballot papers overnight, allegedly on the instructions of the government. He claimed that it has always been a tradition to hold meetings with all political parties before elections, but this time it did not happen.
He said that recently the Local Government Minister had also said that voting would be done through EVMs, but “sensing its defeat” the AAP government changed the decision so that the elections could be “looted” by manipulating the counting of votes and weakening the democracy.
Voting for 105 municipal bodies including eight municipal corporations in Punjab will be held on May 26, while the counting of votes will be done on May 29.