http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article444929.ece
Published: June 2, 2010 23:28 IST | Updated: June 2, 2010 23:28 IST
New Delhi, June 2, 2010
Supreme Court moved on statues issue
J. Venkatesan
PTI
A view of statues of UP Chief Minister Mayawati and Dalit icons at
Ambedkar Sthal in Lucknow. File Photo: PTI
With the Mayawati government refusing to provide information on the
number of statues of elephants and Chief Minister Mayawati installed
in parks/public places in the State, the Election Commission has moved
the Supreme Court for a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government to
furnish these details to decide the issue before it.
Directive
On a petition from advocate Ravi Kant alleging misuse of public funds
for installation of these statues for self-glorification and to
promote the party symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Supreme
Court had asked the Election Commission to pass appropriate orders on
the petition.
However, when the Commission sought details, the State government
replied that the Commission had no jurisdiction to seek such
information when no election process was notified.
Government stand
The State government said that there was no provision under the
Representation of the People Act and the Rules to call for such
information as the Commission had no legal jurisdiction.
Assailing this stand, the Commission has approached the Supreme Court
stating that in the absence of details as to where and in how many
places/parks etc the statues of elephant and Ms. Mayawati had been
installed, it could not verify the stand that the statues of elephant
were not the replica of the party symbol.
BSP's contention
The BSP had contended that the elephant statues showed the trunk of
elephant raised in welcome posture, whereas in the party symbol the
trunk of the elephant was in lowered posture.
The Commission said the government had declined to provide basic
factual information for discharge of its functions to decide the
petitions and complaints filed under the Election Symbols (Reservation
and Allotment) Order.
The information sought was integral to the discharge of its functions
for arriving at a just and fair determination of the complaints filed
by the petitioners and others.
Disputing the State's stand that the Commission had no jurisdiction,
the petition submitted that the information sought was vital for
deciding such disputes, during non-election period.
It sought a direction to the State government to supply the
information called for by the Commission and to extend the time for
passing appropriate orders in the petition.
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