In a significant development, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Food Ram Vilas Paswan has written to the Election Commission to take measures to ensure free and fair polls for the post of President, due on Monday.
In the letter, a copy of which was tweeted by the Minister from his official handle, he expresses concern that in an “age of sophisticated electronic gadgets, there is a strong possibility that these may be misused during the voting process for the presidential elections, 2017, to snoop over the electors and thereby violate Article 55(3) of the Constitution that ensures a secret ballot.”
He cautions that “if this happens it would be a brazen attempt to intimidate the voters” and could be used to prevent smaller parties from voting freely.
“The CEC has been requested to depute Independent Observers at all the polling centres for President's election,” he added.
Sources say many small parties and independent MLAs have promised support to the NDA’s candidate Ram Nath Kovind and even MLAs of opposition parties could cross vote, however that “sophisticated spying equipment” could be used by opposition parties in power in different states to get MLAs to stick to party lines.