District Collector Thakur Ramsingh convened a meeting of owners of various printing press on Sunday in Raipur city keeping in view the forthcoming lok Sabha polls.
Addressing the meeting, Singh stated that the printers would need to follow the norms laid down by the Election Commission of India (ECI) while printing various campaign material for the candidates. The Collector said that the ECI norms are issued to monitor the campaign expenses of the candidates. He said that the printers need to keep in mind the ECI norms before the Model Code of Conduct comes into effect.
Singh warned that stern action would be taken against those printers who violate ECI norms. The Collector stated in the meeting that if the city-based printers are printing campaign material for candidates other than Raipur lok Sabha constituency, then the names of the printer would have to be printed in the material alongwith the name of the publisher, date of printing and quantity of campaign material printed in the ‘print line’.
Similarly, if the campaign material is being transported within the district, then the District Electoral Office needs to be informed and if they are being sent outside the district then the permission of the Office of the Chief Election Officer (CEO) would have to be obtained, he said. The printers would also have to acquire the permission of the party’s office bearers before printing any campaign material for a political party, Thakur said.