Ranchi/Medininagar, February 14 Leader of the opposition and former Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi on Saturday appealed to the State Election Commissioner to deploy paramilitary forces and install CCTV cameras in all polling booths across the state for the urban local body elections.
The civic elections to all 48 urban local bodies are scheduled to be held on February 23, and votes will be counted on February 27.
"I demand that the SEC deploy paramilitary forces and install CCTV cameras in all polling booths to conduct free and fair elections across the state," Marandi said in a video statement.
He alleged that the Jharkhand government was not in a position to hold the civic elections.
"It is conducting the elections following a strict order from the Jharkhand High Court," he alleged.
Meanwhile, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh alleged that the JMM-led alliance government was not holding the civic elections on a party-basis because it was afraid of the saffron party.
Addressing reporters in Palamu, Singh said, "The ruling alliance is not holding the polls on a party-basis and is using electronic voting machines because it is afraid of the BJP."
He claimed that BJP-backed candidates would win the ULB elections by a large margin.
