Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, May 2: The BJP’s election committee chairman Tame Phassang on Thursday requested the people of Kurung Kumey and Kra Daadi districts to maintain peace, ensure fair elections in their constituencies, and let the voters exercise their adult franchise.
Addressing media persons at Arunachal Press Club here, Phassang said repeated reports of violence doing the rounds of social media “bring a bad image to the state, especially the two districts.
“Elections will come and go, but one should know that, irrespective of any party, we are all one family. Hindering the election process will not help in gaining anything but result in differences and loss of human lives and property,” he said, and requested other parties to shun tactics that affect the election procedures.
Phassang, however, alleged that the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) indulged in booth capturing by allowing a single person of the Congress party to cast the votes for all the voters enlisted at the Sangram polling station in Kra Daadi district.
“This happened in the absence of the BJP’s polling agent, as he was not allowed to enter the polling booth on the day of election, 11 April,” he alleged.
Phassang also said the sitting INC MLA candidate of Palin, Takam Pario, “misled the people by luring voters by carrying a sum of Rs 10 lakhs during the re-poll in the district.”
“It is very unfortunate that a leader of the opposition party carried such a huge amount of money, violating the model code of conduct,” Phassang said, and claimed that no BJP workers were involved in the checking of Pario’s private vehicle.
The statement came after Phassang was asked how far it was justified that party workers checked a candidate’s vehicle when it was the job of the flying squads to do so.
A day before the re-poll on 27 April, Rs 10 lakhs along with a dao and guns were recovered from Pario’s private vehicle, which were later handed over to the police by the locals.
Phassang requested the state’s chief electoral officer to inform the Election Commission of India of the whole episode for carrying out further investigation and action in the matter.
He also said the state BJP never demanded re-polling in the two districts. The decision to conduct re-poll came after the verification of various incidents and irregularity in the voting process by the election commission, Phassang said.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Balo Raja denied the repeated allegations made by APCC president Takam Sanjoy that Raja indulged in booth capturing at the Rakso polling station in Palin constituency in Kra Daadi district.
“After the simultaneous elections on 11 April, a complaint was filed by the Congress party, demanding re-poll in Rakso, on 14 April. Accordingly, a meeting was held at the DC office, where the officer concerned denied any foul play and refuted the demand for a re-poll,” he said.
When questioned about the BJP’s involvement in dismantling the bridge over the Kumey river connecting to the Gimba polling station, he said the bridge had been dismantled by “the opposition party, not by BJP workers.”
