Hyderabad, Nov 8: pecial Observer from the Election Commission of India (ECI), Ajay V. Naik on Tuesday, issued specific instructions that the empty rooms within the strong rooms, where polled Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are stored, should not be utilised for storing any additional training EVMs or in any other form.
During a video conference, facilitated by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and his team, Ajay V Naik addressed Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Collectors, Superintendents of Police (SPs), and various heads of agencies, providing valuable inputs on the second consecutive day, a statement confirmed.
The Special Observer directed the officials to complete the printing of Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) by November 20. Another Special Observer for the police from the ECI, Deepak Mishra, instructed the police nodal officers to continuously train the ground staff responsible for the ultimate execution of the election rules. He emphasized that no irrelevant individuals should be allowed to loiter around polling stations.
Additionally, he instructed the Returning Officers (ROs) to maintain the acknowledgment after serving hard copies of the final list of notified postal voters to contested candidates of recognized political parties. In a lighter tone, he provided a strong indication that under-reaction is certainly punishable, whereas over-reaction, though punishable, might be excusable to some extent.
A third observer, R. Bala Krishnan, reminded officials of the importance of properly maintaining expenditure accounts, including shadow registers.
The Chief Election Officer (CEO), Vikas Raj, recommended that concerned officers not reject permissions for contesting candidates and political parties based solely on technical grounds. While respecting the rules of the electoral process, he suggested that there should be flexibility for comfortable campaigning, as it provides candidates with the potential to convince voters.
Vikas Raj also reminded ROs to upload affidavits as they are filed and verified. In cases where incomplete affidavits are discovered or affidavits have not been filed, candidates should be issued notices, he elaborated.
The video conference, held at the CEO’s office, was also attended in person by additional CEO Lokesh Kumar, Joint CEO Sarfaraj Ahmad, Deputy CEO Smt. Satyavani, DGP Anjani Kumar, State Expenditure Monitoring Nodal Officer Mahesh Bhagwat, and State Police Nodal Officer Sanjay Kumar Jain. Collectors, District Electoral Officers, Superintendents of Police from all districts, the Commissioner of GHMC, and others actively participated and shared their experiences with the observers.
