CEO Office rolls up sleeves for polls
Six ACs identified as expenditure sensitive
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 14 2021: As many as six Assembly Constituencies of the State namely; Andro A/C, Wangoi A/C, Mayang Imphal A/C, Thanga A/C, Lilong A/C and Churachandpur A/C have been identified as expenditure sensitive constituencies.

The State's Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Agrawal while announcing this to media during a press conference held today at his office at Lamphelpat, further informed that Flying Squads, Static Surveillance Teams, Video Surveillance Teams, Video Viewing Teams and Accounting Teams have been appointed and trained, and these teams would be activated as soon as the election schedule is announced.

"A meeting with enforcement agencies � Income Tax, Customs, Excise, Narcotics, BSF, CISF and Enforcement Directorate, was also held on December 10 and it deliberated at length on the expenditure aspects", he added.

He further said that Sector Officers and Sector Police Officers have been appointed and trained to visit polling stations for identification of vulnerable locations and voter segments.

CEO Office rolls up sleeves for polls

Saying that steps have been taken up to identify history-sheeters, trouble mongers and persons causing vulnerability, the CEO maintained that 8648 licensed arms out of 25,299 have been deposited in the nearest police stations till date.

He went on to inform that all the critical and vulnerable polling stations will be brought under webcasting/videography besides deploying additional CAPF and Micro Observers in such polling stations.

Assistant Expenditure Observers and District Nodal Officers for Election Expenditure Management have also been identified and trained, he added.

Talking about the criminal antecedents of candidates, Rajesh Agrawal claimed that political parties have been made aware of the Supreme Court's directive that criminal antecedents of all the candidates should be disclosed on their websites within 48 hours of the declaration/announcement/appointment of the candidates.

"As soon as a political party appoints or declares a candidate for a particular constituency, the party must declare criminal antecedents on their websites and send compliance reports to the ROs and CEO's office.

If they fail to do so, it will amount to contempt of Court.

Also the candidates should publish their criminal antecedents at three instances through newspapers/TV", he added.

He also informed that a meeting with political parties will be held on December 22 to train them and create awareness about the model code of conduct and Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) for approval of advertisement and media publication.

The CEO asked the citizens and political parties to complain about any unwanted poll related activities or incidents through c-vigil app to reach the ROs, DEOs and CEO's office.

He said that flying squads have been kept on stand-by to ensure that any complaint received through the app is attended to at the shortest possible time.

Speaking about the Special Summary Revision and enrolment of voters in the electoral roll, he conveyed that over 1,43,000 forms were received during the Special Summary Revision period out of which more than 90,000 were for fresh registration.

He said that the disposal of forms will be completed by December 20 this year and the final electoral rolls will be published on January 5, 2022.The CEO said that 6588 vehicles of different types shall be required for polling personnel and security personnel on poll duty.

Highlighting the initiatives taken up in line with the Covid-19 pandemic, Rajesh Agrawal stated that the protocols which must be followed during the ensuing elections had been deliberated during a consultation programme with the State Health Nodal Officer, Medical Superintendents of RIMS & JNIMS, District Health Nodal Officers including CMOs and Medical Superintendents on December 5.Saying that the CEO, Manipur and all district functionaries are committed to follow the ECI's "Broad Guidelines for Conduct of General Election/Bye Election during COVID-19" in letter and spirit, he informed that a State specific plan with respect to COVID management is being prepared.

"It was also decided to operationalise cashless treatment of persons on election duty, Rapid Response Teams, Air Ambulance teams and 24/7 control rooms", he added.