Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 29:
In a major blow to the MSCP, the Election Commission of India has intimated to the party that it cannot use the �Cultivator Cutting Crop� as its symbol.
Addressing newsmen at his Babupara official quarters today, BJP State unit president Th Chaoba said that the latest directives from the EC came after he personally highlighted the fact that though there was a ban on the MSCP using the symbol, it had not heeded the ban.
The Under Secretary of the Election Commission of India, SR Kar wrote to the MSCP president M Hemanta on August 23 asking him to abide by the order of February 1 this year which forbade the MSCP from using the symbol, Chaoba said.
The former MP said that the party which is known as the MSCP today is a newly registered party which is not recognised by the Election Commission of India and which does not have its own symbol.
The earlier MSCP has already merged with the BJP and the EC has given the green signal to the merger, claimed Th Chaoba.
Chaoba who returned from Delhi yesterday said that during this stay there, he along with MPs of the BJP met the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister and urged them not to compromise with the territorial integrity of Manipur.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh assured that the territorial boundaries of the North Eastern States, including Manipur will not be tampered, informed Chaoba.
When the team urged the Prime Minister to announce in the Parliament that the territorial integrity of Manipur will be protected, the PM assured that there is no need for that as the territory of Manipur will not be compromised at all, added Chaoba.
Like the BJP, the other political parties in Manipur including the Congress should exert the necessary pressure on the Centre to safeguard the territory of Manipur, he observed.
The Prime Minister also expressed surprise when told that power and authority is yet to be devolved to the Panchayat and Zilla Parishad, said the former MP.
Instead of decentralising power to the elected members of the of the Panchayats and the Zilla Parishads, the Government is concentrating all the power within its hands in collusion with the DCs, said Chaoba and added that the elected members of the local body are being rendered idle.