,r;*-'"W e?n?rffiTre4lqhT

q ;"'o Election Commission of lndia

fiffiq sqNIRVACHAN SADAN

sr{il-6 ts, T{ RRfr - tlo oolASHOKA ROAD, NEW DELHI . 110 OO1

No. 61/UP-HP nAM

To,

Dated: 7th May,2014

Shri Arun Jaitley,BJp Leader,C1o National Office of BJp,11 Ashoka Road, New Delhi

sub: Generar Erection to Lok Sabha za].1.- compraint - regarding.

Sir,

I am directed to state that the Commission is in receipt of your letters dated 7th May

2014' The commission has been in the process of asceftaining full facts and was due to respond

to your letters at the earliest possible. This has been done even as the commission was busy

transacting heavy work on poll day today.

As you may be aware, permissions for two out of the three programmes: ,Ganga poojan,

and 'Meeting of eminent citizens' referred to in your letters have since been issued by the District

Magistrate' As regards the third event i.e. the holding of a ral[y, the same was under discussion

because of security and related concerns. You would appreciate that matEer llke grant of

permission for rallies; meetings etc. are deatt with at the level of District MagistratelReturning

officer and not directly by the Election commission. you may atso be aware that local

representative of your pafi, Shri Vidyasagar Rai had already requested for an alternative site on

6th May 2014, which was given on 7th May 2014 though you later requested the Returning

officer not to process the permissions. In this whole matter, the commission decided not to go

by the version conveyed by Dlstrict MagistratelRo alone, but also consufted the state chief

Secretary and Director General of Police, who endorsed the security and suitability aspects

including capacity of the ground, raised by the District officials. you will appreciate that the

Commission cannot overlook the security concerns expressed by competent authorities.

The commission woutd like to draw your attention to the fact that any past and current

grievances presented by your. parfi or any potiticar pafi in connection with the ongoing elections

have always been given prompt eonsideration' Hence the cOmmission is surprised and

disappointed that your pafi has chosen to hord protests over the aforesaid matter, which was

beingsoughttobereso[vedinaccordancewithlawandthegroundsituation.

TheCommissionwittliketoassureyouandallconcernedaboutitscommitmenttoho]d

free, fair and peaceful poll and requests for your continued cooperation in this endeavor'