Aam Aadmi Party slams election officials of providing a similar symbol to rivals

PANAJI: The Aam Admi Party (AAP) today accused the local election officials of rigging the election process by providing a symbol to a rival candidate which it said resembled the party's `broom' symbol.

The name and symbol of AAP's Dattaram Desai on the Electronic Voting Machines in the North Goa Lok Sabha constituency was followed by Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) candidate Raju D'Souza's name, and his symbol of `battery torch' with rays of light.

AAP Goa chief Walmiki Naik, in a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer, said this confused the voters in North Goa constituency, and therefore there should be a re-election. The elections to both the parliamentary seats in Goa were held today.

Naik said the symbol `battery torch with rays' had been withdrawn in Delhi elections, but it was allowed here. Naik's application asked election officials "to determine if the unauthorised inclusion of rays (in SJP's symbol) was done intentionally to confuse the voters. Chief Electoral Officer Keshav Chandra was not available immediately for comments on the issue.