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EC hawk-eye ensures a poster-free Capital

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI NOV. 22. Halfway into campaigning for the December 1 Assembly polls in Delhi, a general feeling has emerged that the Capital is a much cleaner city than what it was during the previous Assembly polls. This has been made possible mainly due to strict enforcement of norms in this regard by the Election Commission in Delhi.

Colourful posters, buntings, flags, banners, wall writings and wall paintings have almost done a disappearing act from major parts of the Capital this time round. Even the huge hoardings of national leaders and candidates that came up across the city before the announcement of Assembly polls, reminding the electorate about their achievements and wishing them happy Diwali are now missing.

"This is mainly because of the Election Commission directive that the cost of removal of these posters, banners and hoardings would be included in the election expenditure of the respective candidate where such violations are detected by the observers deployed by the Commission for such monitoring,'' said a senior official of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

After the poll notification was issued on November 7, the MCD has removed at least 2,700 hoardings, 32,600 banners and 83,000 posters. Wall paintings have been removed from 80 places and writings on walls have been erased from 1,336 places across the Capital, said a senior civic body official. "So far we have done white washing of nearly 3,000 sq mts of walls and area that was defaced by the workers of political parties and candidates,'' he added.

Officials said the maximum complaints regarding defacement of public property have come from Shahdara (South) Zone. Nearly 700 hoardings, 11,000 banners and 31,000, posters have been removed from this part of the Capital, officials said.

Senior Election Commission officials said they were satisfied with the implementation of the West Bengal (Prevention of) Defacement of Public Properties Act in Delhi. "We are now receiving almost negligible complaints at our control room,'' they said. Just before issue of poll notification, the Chief Electoral Officer for Delhi, Arun Goyal, had a series of meetings with senior officials of the various civic agencies.

The Act, which was enforced in the Capital during the Asian Games in 1982, defines defacement as impairing or interfering with appearance or beauty, damaging, disfiguring, spoiling or injuring any property including building, hut, structures, wall, tree, fence post or pole. Jail term of six months and a fine of Rs. 1,000 is the maximum punishment under the Act.

Officials involved in preventing defacement of public properties said initially the political parties and candidates played hide and seek on the issue. "We removed posters and banners during day, they pasted it again in the night. However, finally, they realised the futility of the entire exercise and their number started declining. A number of them are still being pasted,'' the official said.

"No doubt, there was large-scale defacement of public property in the fortnight after the announcement of Delhi Assembly elections on October 6, but after the notification and in particular the beginning of the poll campaign, the candidates and political parties are concentrating less on posters, banners, wall paintings and writings,'' officials said.

Senior MCD officials said, they had a tough time initially in removing wall paintings and writings, which reappeared in the Capital after a long gap. Even the railings of flyovers were painted with slogans. "But now almost all of them have been white washed. We are providing all the relevant details to the Election Commission,'' they said. Officials said nearly 150 sq. mts of wall was defaced in Dilshad Garden, and another 150 in Subhash Nagar and Najafgarh Road. Similarly, 350 sq. mts in Civil Lines area and 450 sq.m. in Karol Bagh, Pusa Road, Dev Nagar, West Patel Nagar, Ajmal Khan Road, Faiz Road and Arya Samaj Road.

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