09-25-2006, 05:59 AM
<!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo--> EC: No Maoist symbols in panchayat polls
Sandeep Mishra
[ 24 Sep, 2006 2342hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
BHUBANESWAR: The Maoist fear runs deep in Orissa. So much so that the state Election Commission has, for the first time, decided against allowing symbols associated with the Left radicals during the panchayat polls.
"In view of the objections raised by some district collectors, we have decided to drop axe from the list of 'free symbols' this time," said state election commissioner Sanjeeb Chandra Hota on Sunday.
"We will accordingly give instructions to the government press, which will start printing ballot papers soon. We will think of an alternate symbol," he said.
Hota decided in favour of doing away with the axe after some district collectors requested him to reconsider the use of axe and bow and arrow as poll symbols during the ensuing three-tier rural elections.
Official sources said, "The axe can be dropped as it is a 'free symbol', but 'bow and arrow' can't be ignored as EC has allotted it to a political party."
The collectors had cited legal provisions which allow public display of election symbols during the poll process and said axe and other such symbols could lead to law and order problems.
Sandeep Mishra
[ 24 Sep, 2006 2342hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
BHUBANESWAR: The Maoist fear runs deep in Orissa. So much so that the state Election Commission has, for the first time, decided against allowing symbols associated with the Left radicals during the panchayat polls.
"In view of the objections raised by some district collectors, we have decided to drop axe from the list of 'free symbols' this time," said state election commissioner Sanjeeb Chandra Hota on Sunday.
"We will accordingly give instructions to the government press, which will start printing ballot papers soon. We will think of an alternate symbol," he said.
Hota decided in favour of doing away with the axe after some district collectors requested him to reconsider the use of axe and bow and arrow as poll symbols during the ensuing three-tier rural elections.
Official sources said, "The axe can be dropped as it is a 'free symbol', but 'bow and arrow' can't be ignored as EC has allotted it to a political party."
The collectors had cited legal provisions which allow public display of election symbols during the poll process and said axe and other such symbols could lead to law and order problems.