Maya, elephant statues to be covered for polls
In a major development, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi on Saturday ordered that all statues of UP chief minister Mayawati and the elephant, which is the Bahujan Samaj Party poll symbol, should be covered till Assembly elections in the state are over.
The CEC, while addressing a press conference here on Saturday, said the statues in Lucknow, Noida and other places should be covered so that they are not visible till the seven-phased polls are over.
“This is being done to provide a level playing field to all parties. Statues of other leaders who are directly related to a political party that is contesting the elections will also be covered. This does not include statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Ambedkar,” he said.
The Opposition parties in UP had demanded that the Election Commission should order removal of statues of the chief minister and elephants installed in the state. Several parties have complained that the statues gave the BSP an undue advantage as they clearly promoted the party.
The model code of conduct states that the pictures of all candidates on public property must be covered during elections. The same logic would apply to statues as well.
Ms Mayawati’s statues are installed in Ambedkar Memorial, Kanshi Ram Memorial, Budhha Shanti Vihar in Lucknow and the Ambedkar Park in Noida. Hundreds of statues of elephants also dot these monuments in Lucknow and Noida. All these monuments have been constructed at government’s expense.
The CEC said that representatives of various political parties that met him during his two-day stay in the state capital had complained about politicisation of the state bureaucracy and have named some officers too.
Meanwhile, the BSP reacted strongly to the EC’s decision, terming it unilateral and against the principles of natural justice.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday night, BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Misra said the EC had acted upon the memorandums given to him by the Congress, SP and the BJP.
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