New Delhi, Apr 13 : The Election Commission has expressed concern over large scale violations of the model code of conduct in the run up to the general elections.

After a full Commission meeting in New Delhi, it advised political parties and their leaders to observe the model code of conduct in letter and spirit.

The Commission observed that many important leaders of political parties at the national and state level are making intemperate and derogatory remarks attacking the personal character or conduct of leaders and candidates of rival parties or making highly provocative and inflammatory statements.

The poll panel said these may have the effect of inciting communal hatred or ill-will and aggravate the differences between different classes of citizens on the grounds of religion, caste and community.

The poll panel said that it is being flooded with complaints of violations of model code of conduct daily and said that open distribution of money in the name of local customs is also most deplorable.

The commission expressed hope that all political parties and their leaders and supporters will set up high standards of electoral morality to ensure the integrity and purity of elections.

By J. Balaji

NEW DELHI, Apr 8 : The Election Commission (EC) has said Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi did not violate any poll code while filing his nomination from Amethi at Sultanpur on Saturday.

The complaint was that he took many of his followers and supporters with him while filing the papers.

The U.P. Chief Electoral Officer, who asked the Sultanpur District Election Officer (DEO) to inquire into the complaint, got a report from the latter stating that there was no code violation by Mr. Gandhi, Deputy Election Commissioner (DEC) R. Balakrishnan told journalists here on Tuesday. The report said only five people had accompanied him.

The Commission has asked the Andhra Pradesh CEO to send the CD and report on the alleged “violent speech” made by Pradesh Congress Committee president D. Srinivas at Nizamabad a few days ago.

According to reports, Mr. Srinivas allegedly threatened to cut the head and chop off the fingers of persons who tried to harm the Muslim minorities.

On the hate speech allegation against Congress Minority Cell Chairman Imraan Kidwai in Chandigarh, Mr. Balakrishnan said the Commission had asked the Chandigarh CEO to file a case against him and also censured Mr. Kidwai. It got a reply from the Congress for the notice issued to it in this regard.

The Commission asked the party to advise its speakers/candidates to show restraint while making speeches. The DEC said the Commission had received a CD and report from the Maharashtra CEO on the alleged distribution of money by the brother of Samajwadi Party nominee for the Mumbai North-West Lok Sabha constituency Abu Asim Azmi to SP supporters.

The Election Commission Monday issued notices to three officials for approving advertisements related to the Commonwealth Games in violation of the code of conduct.

The commission has sought an explanation from the officials of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games (OCCG) who approved the advertisements and ordered its publication in the newspapers.

Full page advertisements March 6 listed the achievements of the central and Delhi governments on the development work carried out for the games, including building of 24 flyovers, improving 1,285 km of roads and inducting 5,000 low-floor buses.

The poll panel said the ads, that cost about Rs.2.6 million, went against the moral code of conduct that came into force March 2 when Lok Sabha election dates were announced.

The commission has sent notices to Shovana Narayan, joint director general (culture and ceremonies), Neel Chatterjee, additional director general (revenue and communications) and Bharat Prasad, deputy director general (finance) of the OCCG who had approved the ads in an meeting held Feb 29.

The OCCG maintained that the meeting was held before the code came into effect but the commission stressed that the committee could have reviewed the decision to run the ads after the code was effective.

According to an Election Commission statement, the officials would have “..to show cause as to why, the total cost of the advertisement amounting to Rs.2,665,247 should not be ordered to be recovered from the personal accounts of the said officers in equal proportions and reimbursed to the organizing committee’s account.”

“Their replies in this behalf should reach the commission within five days from the date of receipt of this notice failing which the commission will issue exparte orders in the matter without further notice to them.”

He said the polling personnel will start in groups two days before the date of polling with heavy security cover to these areas so that they reach their respective booths on poll eve.

Sen, who interacted with the voters in the areas, said people wanted to exercise their franchise.

“To ensure the blind could vote easily, the commission would install the Braille system beside every electronic voting machine,” Sen said.
He said ramps will be put up to make the booths accessible to the physically handicapped.
He said the state has 51,919 booths, and with auxiliaries the figure touches 66,264.

NEW DELHI - Apr 3 In view of the upcoming general elections, the Election Commission on Thursday advised the Union Ministers to avoid press conferences.

“Now that the Model Code of Conduct is in force throughout India in view of the upcoming general elections, the Commission would like to advise that such press conferences should be avoided, as far as possible,” the Commission said in a letter to the Cabinet Secretary.

The Election Commission, however, has said that an appropriate official might address the press conference.

“Where, however, the holding of a press conference becomes unavoidable in public interest, preferably an appropriate official may address the press conference,” the EC said.

The Commission’s advice came after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) complaint against Home Minister P. Chidambaram for making certain comments on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at a press conference held at the PIB.

New Delhi, April 2 : The Election Commission's (EC) directive to the central government Thursday to avoid media briefings after cabinet meetings has forced Home Minister P. Chidambaram to put off his monthly report on the functioning his ministry.

Sources in the poll panel said the directive was primarily a response to Chidambaram's request to present the report as he has been doing every month since taking charge of the ministry Dec 1 last year in the wake of the terror attack on Mumbai.

But with the model code of conduct in place, the EC said an official platform should not be used for this.

In a statement issued here, the poll panel told the cabinet secretary to avoid media briefings after cabinet meetings.

"Now that the model code of conduct is in force throughout India in view of the current general elections to the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim, the Commission would like to advise that such press conferences should be avoided, as far as possible, and the practice of issuing press releases may be resorted to in such cases," the statement said.

Till date Chidambaram has had three exhaustive briefings on what his ministry had been able to achieve since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

The home minister has set for himself a blistering pace of 150 days to put in place critical strategies and strengthen intelligence systems to thwart further attacks.

Though Chidambaram's to-do list is a detailed one, he has been able to shore up intelligence mechanisms and make the Multi-Agency Centre within the Intelligence Bureau fully functional to process intelligence alerts.

According to home ministry officials, Chidambaram was scheduled to hold an interaction on March 31 but called it off at the last minute. Incidentally, Chidambaram donned the role of the party spokesperson and talked on terror threats to political leaders at the headquarters of the ruling Congress party.

The poll panel said it was aware of the normal practice of union ministers addressing press conferences after meetings of the council of ministers or when any issue of public importance relating to the ministry concerned needs to be brought to the attention of the people.

Given this, it said if the cabinet finds that holding a press conference becomes unavoidable in public interest, "then preferably an appropriate official may address the press conference".

The commission said they should be "urgently" informed what action is being taken in this regard.

In his last briefing, Chidambaram had hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley, as well taking a swipe at the Indian cricket board for criticising the central government for allowing the prestigious Indian Premier League to be moved out of the country for security reasons.

Jaipur, The Chief Electoral Officer today sent his report to the Election Commission in the case of Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and BJP Vice President Kailash Meghwal doling out cash at an election meeting in Gagaria village in the district yesterday for garnering votes for Mr Singh’s MP son Manvendra.
”We have forwarded the DEO’s report along with CDs and videogrpahy of the meeting to the commission this afternoon,” an Election Office spokesman said here.
Further action in this regard would now be decided by the Election Commission, he added.
Additional Chief Electoral Officer PC Gupta told UNI that preliminary report said Mr Meghwal had given cash to a woman and Mr Singh had assured of help to the people. Food packets were also distributed among people by them.
However, a Police Department press release here today, added that Mr Meghwal had given Rs 10,000 to Ms Badi, wife of Nangaram Kumhar of Gagaria and Mr Singh had distributed Rs 100 notes among Garasia folk singers who sung at the meeting in his honour.
There were also rumours about distribution of notes among people, the release added.
Meanwhile, talking to UNI in Jaisalmer, Mr Singh adopted a philosophical approach to describe the episode.
He said he had just abided by the popular social practice and convention set by his ancestors and acted on humanitarian grounds.
”We have generations old convention of encouraging social harmony and helping the poor and I do follow it,” he said.
”I do not have money to distribute to people, even than I do intend to help the hungry and poor,” the former Union Minister said.

Bangalore, March 25 The state election commission Wednesday transferred four police officers from Bellary to ensure free and fair elections in the volatile northern district of Karnataka, a senior police official confirmed.

The four officers are Bellary Additional Superintendent of Police Ashok Kurer, Kudligi Deputy Superintendent of Police H.Y. Turai, Sandur Circle Inspector Y. Ramakant and Bellary Circle Inspector at Cole Bazaar police station B. Vidhyadhar.

'We have received the transfer order from the Director General of Police Ajay Kumar Singh on the recommendation of the state election commission. Four new officers have been posted but they are yet to assume charge,' Bellary Superintendent of Police S.K. Singh told IANS.

Bellary Deputy Commissioner B. Shivappa said the police officers were transferred after the opposition parties lodged complaints against them for arresting some people not concerned with criminal cases.

'The arrests were made last month by the police officers on the direction of the authorities. There were also other complaints against them from the opposition parties,' Shivappa added.

At a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami here Tuesday, the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular complained of model code of conduct being violated in the district by the state officials, including police, and interference by two state cabinet ministers - B. Janaradhan Reddy and B. Karunakara Reddy of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state.

The Reddy brothers hail from the rich mining belt of Bellary region.

“At the end of the day, the booths from which a large number of complaints are received, we will ask the presiding officers what had happened. The observers will also mention them in their reports. The Electronic Voting Machines of these booths will be kept separately,” Gopalaswami said.

On demands from the opposition that the Election Commission deploy central paramilitary personnel in every booth to check malpractices by the ruling Left Front, as was done in the assembly polls three years back, the CEC said: “For obvious reasons, such deployment can never be on the same scale as in 2006. But it will be adequate.”

However, he said 25 percent of the polling personnel will be central government staff, and their areas of deployment will be chosen randomly.

Regarding allegations from some parties that political rivals were using illegal arms and ammunition, Gopalswami said: “We have asked the DMs and SPs to carry out activities for recovering them.”

The Election Commission has also asked the district magistrates and superintendents of police to do “vulnerability mapping” of areas, to decide which areas are most vulnerable.

“We have also asked the police to submit to us instances of cases filed in the last six months in an area,” he asked.

Following allegations from some parties that they were not being able to campaign in some Maoist affected areas of the state, Gopalaswami said the police had been told to ensure everybody was able to campaign.
He said the Darjeeling district magistrate has informed the panel that all parties have agreed at a meeting that they will be able to campaign.

In the northern district of Darjeeling, there were allegations that the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) - fighting for a separate Gorkhaland state - was not allowing any of its opponents to campaign.

Gopalaswami said all polling booths would have at least one means of communication. “It may be mobile or land phone. We will be able to contact every booth sitting in our office in Delhi”.

On complaints about anomalies in the Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC), Gopalsawami said the commission has arranged for two levels of verification. “In the first level, the checking will be done under the instruction of the CEO. In the next level, we will depute teams for cross-verification.”

The Election Commission has also ordered extensive video coverage for tracking of candidates and events related to the election.

“The video footage will be kept in the safe custody of the district magistrate for use in future. Digital cameras will be provided for tracking events,” he said.

Agreeing to request from parties, the Election Commission has allowed meetings on school grounds with proper permission from the school authorities and provided that the academic calendar remained undisturbed.

New Delhi: In the wake of Election Commission slapping a notice on SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for allegedly distributing money in a function in Saifai in Uttar Pradesh, BJP today said the poll panel should either derecognise the party or cancel its symbol.

"It was a political function which was later called a Holi program. Mulayam Singh Yadav was himself telling his people from the stage that they should distribute more money. It is a black day for democracy," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

The saffron party has written to the Election Commission demanding action against SP for violation of the model code of conduct.

"The Election Commission should either cancel their (SP) party symbol (bicycle) or derecognise the party. This is a conspiracy to turn 'loktantra' (democracy) into 'note-tantra' (rule of money)," Javadekar said, adding this was not a one-off case.

"It is a challenge to the Election Commission. If the Election Commission wants to conduct free and fair elections it should take action. And it has not only happened in Saifai but also in Rampur where Jayaprada (SP MP) has distributed money," Javadekar alleged.

Terming the event as a "serious crime", BJP demanded the the poll panel should not allow the use of "dhanbal" (money power) and "bahubal" (muscle power) in the Lok Sabha polls.

Imphal, Dec 21 : The Manipur People's Party (MPP) today has submitted a reminder to the Chief Election Commission of India on the violation of the model of conduct in Moirang Assembly bye-election by the ruling SPF government in the state.

In the reminder, it was stated that inspite of repeated applications protesting against various cases of violation of model election code of conduction.

 The SPF continue to do so by processing for appointment of various posts in the Manipur police department, election campaign and other election related activities at the chief minister's bungalow, harassment of MPP candidate H Bira and his workers by the state force and partisan approach of the state force in the election campaigns and election meetings.

And no actions have been taken up against it so far, MPP lamented in the reminder to the ECI.

Contrary to the request of the party for enquiry on the matter of campaign in the chief minister's bungalow which is located in Imphal, the reminder further mention that the joint chief electoral officer has asked to DC/DEO, Bishnupur and SDO/RO, Moirang to enquire into the matter at Bishnupur.


Hueiyen News Service