The Election Commission of India today in a directive asked the law enforcing agencies responsible for manning the polling booths for the upcoming polls on 23 and 29 April to arrest the alleged “fake” voters found to have been indulging in electoral malpractices in the form of “false” voting.
File Photo: IANS
The Election Commission of India today in a directive asked the law enforcing agencies responsible for manning the polling booths for the upcoming polls on 23 and 29 April to arrest the alleged “fake” voters found to have been indulging in electoral malpractices in the form of “false” voting. Earlier, such offenders were let off after a warning. The offender can be imprisoned for up to a maximum of six months.
Furthermore, in another directive, the Commission today asked all the officers in-charge (OCs) of district police stations to submit a written undertaking swearing of strict adherence to the Commission’s guidelines on maintaining “silence period”. The said undertaking would have to be routed to the state CEO office by 9 p.m. tonight.
Advertisement
Moreover, the poll panel this time has entrusted the CAPF personnel with the onus to maintain security within 100 metres of the polling booths, thus reducing the state police’s role to maintaining queues waiting for their turn to cast their ballots.
Advertisement
On the issue of certification by the OCs on silence period, the ECI guidelines said that as the silence period starts 48 hours before the polling gets underway, the Commission is empowered by the Section of the 1951 Representation of the People’s Act to issue strictures on maintenance of the silence period. It prohibits any campaigning or airing of public views.
The CAPF roles in this year’s polling are going to be more specific after a meeting with all the DGs of the central agencies such as the BSF, CISF, CRPF and ITBP. There was also emphasis on better coordination and following the standard operating procedures.
For the 23 April polling in the first phase, 2,407 companies of CAPF personnel would be deployed, while in the second phase almost the same number of companies of the Central Armed Police Force would be deployed. In Kolkata alone, there would be 250 companies of CAPF personnel on duty on polling day, 29 April.
According to the Commission structure, this time a half a section of the CAPF personnel means four CAPF jawans would be deployed at each polling station, while at polling stations, where there is more number of booths, the section would increase to two.
Advertisement
