The opponents should not rake up issues on the personal lives of leaders which has nothing to do with elections, State Election Commissioner P C Dalei said on Friday.
The candidates should respect the personal lives of their opponents. Protests should not be held in front of the houses of opponents, he said. The Election Code of Conduct for the candidates contesting the Panchayat elections is being closely monitored by the State Election Commission, Dalei said. The candidates should follow the model code of conduct on the number of vehicles used for rallies, meetings and other rules laid down by the authorities.
He said that no candidate or party should hurt the religious sentiments of the masses and create unrest in the society. The candidates should not take aid of caste or religious feelings to garner votes. Temples, mosques and churches should not be used for campaigning. The political parties and candidates should desist from violating the Model Code of Conduct. The pamphlets, posters, advertisements and other material should contain the name of publisher and his or her full address, he said.
Nobody should try to create trouble at a public meeting, bribe the voters and give gifts to lure them, canvassing within a radius of prohibited 100 meters from the polling booth, conduct public meeting a day before or on the day of polling, providing transport to voters, disturbing the polling officers on duty and voting in others’ names, Dalei said.
Alcohol should not be distributed two days prior to the polling day and on the day of voting by the contesting candidates and their followers. The candidates should not use the land, buildings, wall of private citizens for hoisting party flag, pasting poster, writing slogans without the permission of the owners. The rival candidates should not remove the posters of others, he said. The identity slips given to the voters should be on a plain paper and the name of candidates and election symbol should not be printed.
The identity slip should only consist the voter’s name, father or husband’s name, ward number, polling centre number and number of voter in poll list. The candidates should co-operate with the polling officers and others on duty for the smooth conduct of elections, he said.As per the instructions of Election Commission of India, intense review of the last part of electoral rolls concerning service staff as on January 1, 2015 is underway in Chhattisgarh.
Any person above 18 years possessing service qualification may register their names as service voter. The qualified person, who had earlier registered as electoral, will also have to fill form-2 or 3 (as per the rules) again and will have to submit the same with affidavit at record office or the concerned authority. This form should reach District Election Officer of the respective record office by January 31, 2015. Dalei has appealed that to register their name as service staff, people associated with service sector like Armed Forces personnel, Central Industrial Security Force or posted outside State may submit their completely filled form (as prescribed) at record office/office of the competent authority till January 31.
Submission of their forms before the given last date will enable inclusion of their names in voter-list as serving electoral.Dalei will review the arrangements for Panchayat election in a meeting of collectors and district election officers to be held on Monday (January 12). The meeting will commence at 10.30 am on January 12 at chief election officer’s office, situated near old Mantralaya building in Raipur. The agenda for the meeting includes compliance to the model code of conduct, law and order, vehicle arrangement, sensitive polling booths, voting and counting arrangements, ballot boxes and other required goods for election, and other issues concerning Panchayat election. In the meeting, district-wise arrangements for panchayat elections will be reviewed in detail.