A road show to welcome the SAD-BJP candidate from Amritsar lok Sabha constituency, Arun Jaitley, has proved costly for the ruling combine. The Election Commission, acting on a complaint by the Congress party highlighting the violation of Model Code of Conduct, has imposed Rs1.80 lakh fine on both SAD and BJP. Besides, the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer has also issued a show cause notice to both district unit presidents of BJP and SAD for violating the Code during roadshow of combine’s candidate. “A fine of Rs90,000 each on both SAD and BJP has been impose as a cost of expenditure calculated on removing unauthorized hoardings or banners by Municipal Corporation Amritsar,” said the State’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer Raminder Singh.
CEC TO VISIT PUNJAB NEXT WEEK
Full Election Commission of India led by Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath is expected to visit Punjab next week to review arrangements for lok Sabha Elections. During the visit, the CEC would hold meetings with representatives of political parties and state officials besides interacting with media persons, stated additional CEO Raminder Singh.
NO NEW BlUE CARD ISSUED AFTER IMPOSITION OF CODE
In his report to the Election Commission in the matter of distribution of blue cards under Atta-Dal scheme, the state Food and Civil Supplies secretary has maintained that no new cards have been distributed after March 5 and six-month ration as per National Food Security Act was being distributed to the existing card holders only.
The report has been submitted regarding the two separate complaints of by Patiala MP Preneet Kaur and state congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa regarding distribution of blue cards having photographs of Chief Minister after the imposition of Code.Raminder Singh said that Commission agreeing with the report of Secretary Food and Civil Supplies has forwarded the same to Election Commission of India.
Bicycle shops sealed
The Election Commission has ordered sealing of all stores, where the parts of bicycles yet to be assembled and later distributed were being kept in various schools, in all districts till the election process was over. Sangrur deputy commissioner-cum returning officer, in his report, maintained that there was no violation of the code.
177 complaints received
Giving the gist of complaints received by the Commission after announcement of elections, Raminder Singh said that till date, 177 complaints have been received by the Commission out of which 117 dealt with the code violation whereas 60 related to other issues like transfers etc.He appealed to the people not to send complaints to ECI on those issues which were not directly or indirectly related with election process. He expressed concern that certain complaints were deliberately sent to ECI to take refuge from due criminal proceedings of ongoing cases.
NEW VOTES TIll APRIl 2
Additional CEO (SVEEP) B Purushartha, speaking on occasion, said that Election Commission of India has intensified its campaign to enroll new eligible voters, and new voters can get enrolled up to April 2. “For the first time, mass SMS exercise is being initiated by the ECI to motivate voters to exercise their right of franchise.More than 47 lakh mobile subscribers would be getting SMS messages reminding them to cast their votes freely and fairly,” he added.He said that even on the day of polling, six to seven reminders SMSs would be sent to every voter reminding him that it was his day to exercise his right of franchise.