Taking cognisance of the complaint lodged by BJP that discretionary funds are being misused to lure the voters by the State Government, Chief Election Commission Naseem Zaidi asked the Chief Secretary to make sure that the discretionary fund is released rightly in tandem with the required procedures. He made it clear that he would not brook any kind of appeal made by the political parties in the name of caste and religion to the electors. The State administration was instructed to enforce the laws strictly to make the people refrain from any wrong doing ahead of the election.
The election commission team hinted that the election in the State would be held either in the last week of February or the first week of March 2017.
They asked the administration to ensure that the political parties are not allowed to influence the voters at the booths in any way. They told the administration to see to it that the political parties do not issue voters’ slips to the people with party symbols printed on them.
Stressing on free and fair election, Zaidi asked the district magistrates and police heads to start conveying the message that they are gearing up for the Assembly election in right earnest. He asked them to sternly execute non-bailable warrants and to make people to deposit their arms licenses. Besides, he told them to wind up the cases related to the Assembly election-2012.
Political parties appealed to the team to ensure level playing field to enable the voters to cast votes freely according to their choice. The team concurred with their view and said they would do everything possible to ensure that.
The chief election commissioner also asked the district election officers/district magistrates to verify whether the booth level officers (BlO) have any association with any of the political parties in the contest. In case a connection is found the BlO concerned should be withdrawn, he said, adding that the same holds true for other employees associated with the election in any way.
He further said that to facilitate the voters, they have extended the time of making the voters’ cards to November 7, 2016.
CEC said he was surprised over the number of the first- time voters much lower than what should be. As per the data available, the number should be over 72000, he said. In view of this, he asked the chief electoral officer to launch a special campaign to enroll the names of the first- time voters in the electoral rolls. He also instructed CEO to intimate the voters whose names have been deleted for this or that reason, individually so as to enable them to participate in the democratic process by having the problems sorted out on time.