Ludhiana tops state in election code violation complaints, 86% resolved

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, April 24

Ludhiana has topped the state in the receipt of poll code violation complaints with over 86 per cent of them acted upon and resolved within the stipulated time period, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has said.

Punjab has received as many as 1,860 complaints, alleging violations of the model code of conduct (MCC) imposed by the commission since the announcement of the General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha across the country on March 16, of which at least 1,472 have been acted upon and resolved within the fixed time frame, with almost 42 per cent of them decided in less than 100 minutes, official figures have revealed.

When it comes to seeking and grant of poll-related permissions of different nature in the state, maximum permissions have been sought for and accorded instantly in Ludhiana district.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C told The Tribune on Wednesday that as many as 1,860 poll code violation complaints of various nature have been received across 23 districts in the state from March 16 to April 23, of which 1,472 have been acted upon and resolved within the stipulated time period, which accounted for 79.13 per cent resolution rate. Of the total resolved complaints, as many as 773 have been decided by taking requisite action in less than 100 minutes, which accounted for 52.51 per cent swift resolution rate.

While 371 complaints have been dropped at different levels of investigation after being found invalid, the remaining 17 cases were being probed and in the process of being acted upon and resolved shortly.

He said during the past over one month of the poll code period, as many as 1,516 election-related permissions of different nature had been sought for across 117 Assembly segments within 13 Lok Sabha constituencies under 23 districts in the state, of which 1,149 have been accepted within the fixed time frame, 268 have been rejected for various reasons while the remaining 99 were in the process of being accepted or rejected as per the ECI guidelines. While 58 of them were pending within the stipulated time period, eight permission requests were pending beyond time, which included two each in Amritsar Central, Dasuya and Malout and one each in Ludhiana West and Samana Assembly segments.

The CEO said all district electoral officers (DEOs), which the Deputy Commissioners concerned had been assigned, have been asked to act upon all poll code violation complaints and grant the election-related permissions, which were found genuine and eligible as per the ECI guidelines, within the minimum possible time.

“With 94 per cent accuracy rate of the total poll code violation complaints received so far, all complaints have been acted upon and resolved within the fixed time frame and not even a single complaint was left pending beyond the permissible time limit in any part of the state so far,” Sibin said.

No poll code violation allowed: CEO

“People can use our C-Vigil mobile application and other available platforms to report violations of the MCC. We will investigate all complaints and take appropriate action as per the ECI guidelines. Nobody will be allowed to violate the poll code and we are committed to conducting a free, fair, peaceful, smooth and transparent poll,” said Sibin C, CEO, Punjab.

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