Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish chaired the meeting attended by representatives of all political parties held at the Collectorate on Monday to ask them to scrupulously follow the model code of conduct (MCC) in force following the Lok Sahba election notification and seek their cooperation in conducting incident-free polls in free and fair manner.
Ms. Shilpa said the public and the political parties may download Election Commission’s ‘cVigil app’ in their smart phone to register complaints pertaining to poll-related violations. After visiting the spot within 15 minutes, the flying squad will forward the action taken report to the District Election Officer within 100 minutes. A special control room has been created in the Collectorate to deal with the complaints being received through cVigil app.
“The complainants may also send photographs or two-minute-long videos to prove their charges through cVigil app,” Ms. Shilpa said.
Complaints pertaining to MCC violations could also be registered by calling 1950 or 0462 – 2501366 and 60 squads – 30 each flying squads and the static squads – had been deployed to monitor MCC violations, Ms. Shilpa said.
Commissioner of Police, Tirunelveli City, N. Bhaskaran, Deputy Commissioners Feroze Khan Abdullah (Crime and Traffic) and Samson (Law and Order) Superintendent of Police P Ve Arunshakthikumar, Sub-Collectors P. Akash of Cheranmahadevi and Manish Naranavare of Tirunelveli, District Revenue Officer B. Muthuramalingam and representatives of recognised political parties participated in the meeting.
Thoothukudi Collector Sandeep Nanduri, after chairing the all-party meeting, said 56 squads including 18 each flying and the static squads and 12 videographing squads had been formed to monitor MCC violations and record the same immediately so as to take appropriate action against the violators.
Besides getting their doubts pertaining to elections cleared, the public could register their complaints regarding MCC violations by calling toll-free 1950. Moreover, one more toll-free number would be introduced shortly.
The media certification team, led by Collector, Sub-Collector, National Informatics Centre official, social media expert and two journalists would monitor the violations, if any, in the poll-related advertisements and news appearing in the print and electronic media and also on social media.
In Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency, 1,618 polling booths would be established. Of this, three have been identified as ‘hyper sensitive’ and 233 categorised as ‘sensitive’. Eligible voters can include their names till the last date of filing of nomination.
Symbols of political parties drawn on the government buildings and other poll-related advertisements made by the political parties should be removed within 24 hours while similar poll graffiti in government poramboke lands should be removed within 48 hours. The poll graffiti in the private buildings should be removed within 72 hours, Mr. Sandeep said.
Kanniyakumari Collector Prashant M. Wadnere said 1,694 polling booths would be established in the district, having 14,77,161 voters. Of this, 208 booths in 48 places had been categorised as ‘sensitive’. A total of 36 squads, including 18 each flying and the static squads, would monitor the MCC violations in the district.
