Criminal antecedents of candidates : BJP has 13, Cong 11
ECI to review poll preparedness on Feb 7
Source: The Sangai Express / PMC

Imphal, February 03 2022: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manipur Rajesh Agrawal has informed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would visit Manipur on February 7 to review the poll preparedness in the State.

Briefing the media at Lamphelpat today, Rajesh Agrawal continued that the Election Commission will hold meeting with Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Chief Electoral Officer, State Police Nodal Officer, DG Assam Rifles, recognized National/State political parties, District Election Officers, Superintendents of Police and Enforcement Agencies.

He further stated that election notifications for the first phase had been issued by all Returning Officers (RO) on February 1 while the notifications for second phase will be issued on February 4 .

In view of COVID-19, the number of persons to accompany a candidate for filing nomination is restricted to two and the number of vehicles is also restricted to two, he said and added "all candidates shall open separate bank accounts for incurring expenditure in the election" .

ECI to review poll preparedness on Feb 7

On the publication of criminal antecedents, the CEO stated that so far Bharatya Janata Party had published Format C-7 for 13 candidates having criminal antecedents while Indian National Congress had published the same for 11 candidates.

He reiterated that political parties should publish Format C-7 for selecting candidates having criminal antecedents within 48 hours of selection of candidates and compliance in Format C-8 should also be furnished to ECI/CEO within 72 hours of selection of such candidates.

Further, candidates having criminal antecedents should publish declaration in Format C-1 and report compliance to RO immediately on three occasions (from the last date of withdrawal of candidature till 2 days before poll) - in National newspapers, local newspapers, TV channels as specified/identified by CEO.

Political parties should also publish in Format C-4 and report compliance to the CEO on three occasions-in local newspapers, TV channels as specified by the CEO.

Candidates should also file Revised Abstract Statement of election expenses and the same has been circulated to all ROs and all political parties, he said.

The CEO further informed that an Android based mobile app called Voter Facilitator App having three important features including information on average queue waiting time, wheelchair service booking facility and Postal Ballot opting service facility had been developed by IT Cell of CEO, Manipur.

Rajesh Agrawal also mentioned that permission for meeting, door to door campaigning should be obtained from District Election Officers in advance.

Outdoor physical meeting is allowed up to 1000 persons or 50% of the capacity of the ground or prescribed limit set by SDMA whichever is lesser while indoor meeting is allowed upto 500 persons or 50% of the capacity of the hall or prescribed limit set by SDMA whichever is lesser.

Door to door campaign is allowed upto 20 persons excluding security personnel.

No road show, physical rally, padyatra, cycle/bike/vehicle rally and procession is allowed till February 11, he added.

Further, each political party/candidate shall furnish an undertaking in the application form (under Suvidha) that it shall abide by all the extant instructions/guidelines in this regard.

Between 8 pm and 8 am, no rallies and public meetings (akin to campaign curfew) shall be allowed on any campaign day, he added.

Mentioning that political parties shall furnish star campaigners' list with number restricted to 30 for recognised parties and 20 for registered unrecognised political parties, he said that only Shiv Sena had submitted the star campaigners' list so far.

He asserted that requests for campaigns by star campaigners may be submitted to the concerned authority at least 48 hours before the start of the campaign to make all necessary arrangements.

Stating that nine auxiliary polling stations had been created in addition to the 2959 polling stations, he added that the total number of polling stations is now 2968 .

He informed that altogether 3985 requests for Postal Ballots had been received out of which 773 are for PwD voters and 3212 80+ voters.

18 Intermediate Strong Rooms had been identified for keeping EVMs, he said .

The CEO further informed that about 17,187 i.e.74.8% of total license arms (22,957) had been deposited and certain items, including cash, drugs, liquor, gold and others, amounting to Rs.78 crore had been seized till date.

He continued that 50 companies of Central Armed Police Force had been deployed in the State and 75 more companies will be arriving in the next two weeks.

A total of 20 general observers, 11 police observers, 20 expenditure observers and 3 special observers namely Special General Observer Pravir Krishna, Special Police Observer Arun Kumar and Special Expenditure Observer Rajesh Tuteja will visit the State soon.

The CEO said that children should not be used for the election process whatsoever.

He added that pre certification by MCMC is mandatory for publication of political advertisements in newspapers on poll day and one day prior to poll by political parties/candidates.

Further, manifestos are not to be released during the prohibitory period (last 48 hours before the close of poll) in both phases as prescribed under Section 126 of the RPA, 1951 .

Additional CEO N Praveen Singh, Joint CEO Ramananda Nongmeikapam, State Nodal Officer (Media) W Phajatombi Devi were also present.