Poll code violations not to be tolerated: CEO

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 21

With the Election Commission announcing the schedule for the Assembly elections, the model code of conduct has come into force immediately. All district administrations have been given 72 hours to check defacement of property and remove photographs of political functionaries from government buildings.

Anurag Agarwal, Chief Electoral Officer, while addressing mediapersons here today, said that Haryana is fully prepared for the Assembly elections. "The notification will be issued on September 27. The last date for filing nominations is October 4 while the scrutiny of papers will be done the next day. October 7 has been fixed as the last day for the withdrawal of candidature. The polling will be held on October 21 and the counting on October 24," he said.

He said that the Election Commission would be vigilant with regard to the violations of the model code of conduct. No violation of the model code of conduct would be tolerated. He added that all district chiefs had been asked to remove the photographs of political functionaries and slogans from all government buildings. "Since the elections were announced this noon, this has to be done by noon tomorrow. During the next 24 hours, the focus will on removing banners and other violations from public places. The 24 hours following 'cleaning' up of public places will be devoted to the removal of slogans and posters from private properties," he said.

Agarwal said that code violations could be reported on the C-Vigil app or the ECI website. Action would be taken in a specified time frame and the complaints could be tracked on the website. "We have a voter helpline number 1950, which can be used to see the entire voter list. The toll-free number 18001804815 can be used to report any cash movement or expenditure-related complaint," he added. A limit of Rs 28 lakh had been set for expenditure by the candidates in the elections.

Though the voters' list, after revision, was published on August 27 this year, new voters, who have not registered themselves so far, could do so till September 26. "The update of voter rolls will continue till the last date of nomination," Agarwal said, adding that manpower, polling parties, micro-observers had been appointed

Haryana has asked for 200 companies and has had interactions with the Union Home Department and the ECI while 24 state nodal officers drawn from various services have been appointed for monitoring expenditure during the poll. They are geared up to check the movement of liquor and cash during the elections.

“An individual can carry up to Rs 10 lakh during the election time but he should be able to produce relevant documents. Similarly, banks have been asked to keep an eye on transactions of more than Rs 10 lakh. In all, there will be expenditure observers, general and police observers with their tasks cut out,” he said.

Agarwal said that the voter turnout in the 2014 Assembly election was 76.5 per cent and they hoped to push it up by creating awareness. He added that paid news would be especially on their radar as would be violations by any political party and its leaders.

He said that while the on-going selection process of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission could go on, no result could be declared during the election time. He added that a number of nakas would be set up across the state and checking operations would be video-graphed.

“We are in the process of identifying vulnerable voters and confidence-building measures will be undertaken to ensure they can go out and vote freely. Our emphasis will be on holding ethical elections,” he said. The administrations of all districts having borders with other states were holding talks with seven neighbouring states to ensure a free and fair poll.