Jamshedpur, Nov 18: With Assembly polls round the corner, the district has worked mechanism to bring transparency in the election process.
The district administration on Tuesday reviewed all the preparations for the second phase of polls for the six assembly seats in East Singhbhum District scheduled for December 2.
During a meeting with the political parties� representatives and other observers of ECI, the DC Amitabh Kaushal said that that candidates should not campaign near any Religious places like Gurudwara, Church, Temple, Mosque and Schools & Colleges.
Any attempt to influence voters in the name of religious sentiments will be strictly dealt under The Representation of the People�s Act 1951 and IPC as this would be violation of the model code of conduct which was enforced in the district with the declaration of Assembly elections.
DC also said that if any candidates visits Church, Gurudwara or Mosque daily he can do it but if found he is meeting with 10-15 people it would be violation of model code of conduct. If any candidate suffers more than one case of violation of model code of conduct then he will be kept under police Surveillance on the day of poll.
The returning officer-cum-deputy commissioner of East Singhbhum Dr. Amitabh Kaushal informing the candidates and his representative present at the Collectorate office said that Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) have been tested for the second time and now these machines would not be changed. Which machine will go to the particular booth and the number of the ballot was also informed to the candidates.
Engineers will examine all the voting machines and under any condition the machine is changed the new number will be provided to the candidate. For the same candidates should communicate with the concerned officer. DC further said that on the counting day a candidate should not put up questions regarding the number on the machine and the candidate should keep the list of number safe with them.
Dr. Amitabh also said that any star campaigner or the candidate of any political party is moving toward naxal infected area for camping he is liable to inform the district administration 24 hours prior and take information. The candidates should also inform the route through which they will travel to a particular village. In order to take permission for the administration the candidates can directly communicate with the Dhalbhum SDO, Ghatshila SDO, Ghatshila DSP.
The district administration of East Singhbhum has intensified preparations for the upcoming elections. Copies of the voters list would be printed for distribution among the political parties and for completing various official formalities. The list would be made available on CD. The district officials informed that a list of officers and employees from Central and State departments would be prepared be deployed on election duties. The list of more employees is expected.
He further went on to inform that the process to identify the sensitive polling booths is also on. Apart from identifying the naxal infested areas, procedure is on to identify those booths where the communication system is not available. A detail report of security personnel required has also been prepared by the police administration.
The normal practice of political parties lodging complaints of the opponent candidate (s) vis-�-vis poll expenditure is there but in addition to this age-old practice several innovative steps have been incorporated by the ECI to ensure transparency in the elections. At the review meeting DC Dr Amitabh Kaushal, Observers of all the assembly areas, SSP Amol V Homkar along with all the administration officials, political party candidates and independent candidates were present.