Mayawati gets EC jolt

Mayawati gets EC jolt
PNS New Delhi
‘Violated orders by installing elephant statues’On a statue-building spree, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who recently got Supreme Court nod for carrying out personal glorification campaign, received a jolt from the Election Commission on Tuesday.Finding the statues of Mayawati, other Dalit leaders and that of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) symbol, the elephant, to be prima facie violative of the model code of conduct, the Commission issued show-cause notice to the BSP chief and the party asking them to respond by August 12.Although the Supreme Court on July 10 had refused to stay the installation of statues citing that decisions approved by State Cabinet cannot be interfered with by the courts, the EC notice could be a cause of worry for the Chief Minister.The notice came on a complaint by Ravi Kant and Sukumar, two practicing advocates of the Supreme Court, who cited an April 1, 2009 notification issued by the Commission which expressly prohibited display of image or photograph of political functionaries in any form in Government offices or public places. With the elephant being the BSP symbol and the statue of Mayawati who herself would contest the election in the coming State Assembly poll, the petition said, “The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh have violated the orders of the Election Commission by installing permanent structures of the election symbol replica of BSP and constructing several statues of the Chief Minister in public places in Lucknow and Noida. These structures will severely violate the Model Code of Conduct during elections.”According to the information collected by the complainants, a total of 60 elephant statues would be installed in the State at a total cost of Rs 52.2 crore. Besides a sum of Rs 1940 crore was spent by Mayawati for constructing her statues in several parts of the State. Citing grounds for EC to interfere, the petition stated, “The statues have been put up in vantage points to ensure that the supremacy and fear of the power of the BSP is conveyed to the voter” in a manner to influence them and destroy fair play.
Even the April notification of the Commission stated, “This would have the effect of disturbing the level playing field vis-à-vis the political functionaries of other parties and candidates.” Taking this into account, the petitioners asked the Commission to consider stalling the construction of statues.According to EC sources, the Commission had received the complaint and a copy of it had been sent to the BSP seeking its comments. The matter relating to the validity of statues is already pending in the Supreme Court, which is expected to take up the case for hearing later this month.