Mumbai/Nagpur: A prominent NGO Friday demanded repoll in all the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra following an apology tendered by Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma and his admitting to lapses leading to deletion or diversion of names of over six million voters in the state.
"Merely apologizing is not sufficient. It is like rubbing salt on the wounds of the six million-plus citizens who were denied their fundamental right to vote. The EC must compensate by ordering a complete repolling in the 48 Lok Sabha seats and sacking all the electoral officials concerned here, including Chief Electoral Officer Nitin Gadre," an agitated Kishore Tiwari, chief of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, told IANS.
"This is a lapse of monumental magnitude... The blunders by the state election department can have a major impact on the outcome of the 2014 elections," Tiwari said.
IANS had on April 19 first highlighted the issue of the six million-plus voters' names, which sparked off a furor among voters, candidates, political parties and officials.
Reacting to the EC apology, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said: "The state government would take up the issue with the Chief Election Commissioner (V.S. Sampath)."
