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The Delhi High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions from the State Election Commission to remove election symbol from the ballot paper, including the unit of the Electronic voting machine (EVM) in municipal elections in the national capital.

The bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla dismissed the petition today.

The petitioner Alka Gehlot was an Ex-Contestant of the last municipal election held in 2017 and had earlier also approached the Delhi HC in 2019. That the petition was disposed of by the court with the direction of the State Election Commission, Delhi to look into the grievance of the petitioner.

The plea stated that the election symbols are not required in the presence of photographs of the candidate and the presence of a reserved election symbol is ultra-virus the provisions of law enshrined in the Constitution of India and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC), Act 1957. 

The presence of a reserved election symbol is the root cause of corruption in the Corporation, added the plea.

The plea further stated that the population of Delhi is growing exponentially in violation of the NCR Planning Board Act, 1985.

The Municipal Government cannot escape responsibility as most of the Corporators are indulged in property dealing or have become one of the most polluted cities in the world, it added.

Advocate HS Gehlot represented the petitioner, and stated, “The DMC Act 1957 provides that the councilors be chosen by direct election on the basis of adult suffrage from various wards which the corporation comprises of, without any preference to candidates of political parties. Hence, the SEC ought to conduct an election to elect a candidate and not a party. The presence of reserved symbol on the ballot paper is a blatant violation of Fundamental Rights and other constitutional rights of the people”.

[Source ANI]