Taking a serious note of executive machinery of Haryana, including Chief Secretary holding meetings with the field staff to review election preparedness, the Election Commission on Tuesday reiterated the ban of 2008 on holding of such meetings.
“It has been brought to the notice of the Commission that senior officers of the State Government like the Chief Secretaries and other senior secretaries call senior civil and police officers of the district administration for meetings to review some administrative issue or other,” Chief Electoral Officer of Haryana, Shrikant Walgad, said in a release here.
He said that the Commission’s letter, dated September 2, 2008, “strictly prohibits holding such meetings or video conferences by the executive machinery of the State.” “However, if any exigency exists which warrants such meeting to be held by Chief Secretaries or DGPs, the Government would take prior permission of the Commission in the matter, giving reasons for holding such meetings,” Walgad said.