Four constituencies in Puducherry region -- Nellithope, Orleanpet, Lawspet and Kamarajarnagar -- have been identified as expenditure sensitive.
Speaking at a press meet on Saturday, District Election Officer P. Jawahar said that flying squads for these constituencies would be increased.
Soon, deployment of flying squads in the Assembly constituencies would be tripled. “During the recent review of the poll preparedness in Puducherry by Election Commission of India, the team had directed us to increase the flying squads. Hence, we will augment the number of flying squads for each returning officer (RO) from three to six. The number will be increased to nine for each RO by May 1. There are eight ROs in the Puducherry region,” he said.
He added that GPS would be installed in the vehicles used by these flying squads to easily mobilise them to attend to the complaints.
“In the checking posts, we have deployed static surveillance teams and rolling static surveillance teams. These teams will be on the move and will monitor election-related activities,” he said. As per the directions of the Election Commission of India, the DEO had held a meeting with the police department to conduct vulnerability analysis.
Vulnerable booths
“This includes vulnerability mapping to identify the polling booths where voters are influenced. Though there are not many vulnerable booths, money transaction is rampant in Puducherry recently. In order to control this, we have separated different sectors in each constituency. We have posted sector officers with special magistrate powers. Collating information from the police department based on the law and order problems and the crime records of each individual, the sector officers will conduct field visits consulting the electorates and analyse poor and caste based settlements and submit a report to the field returning officers. Sector officers will have police sub inspectors and inspectors to assist them. They will compile these reports and submit to the DEO, who will in turn collect reports from all the ROs and submit to the CEO. The CEO will give this to the Election Commission of India. This exercise will be complete by the third week of April. Based on this report, the district election management plan will be updated and the police deployment will also be planned accordingly,” Mr. Jawahar said.
In addition to this, the vulnerability aspect will also factor in critical polling stations. In Puducherry region, nearly 15 polling stations have been identified as critical polling stations where 90 per cent polling was recorded.
Of which, 75 per cent votes have been cast in favour of one particular candidate in the recent elections. “We will also see if the polling stations are abetting the neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Jawahar added.
Violation of Election
Code of Conduct
He added that so far, 24 FIRs have been filed for violation of election code of conduct. In this, six cases are filed against liquor distribution, three against defacement. So far, Rs. 78 lakh in cash has been confiscated and a case under income tax evasion has been filed for Rs. 14 lakh, he said. Besides, an FIR was filed against a retail merchant in Kamarajarnagar for selling 8,450 pressure cookers to one person. “Through this, we would like to inform all the traders and merchants they have to file a complaint against doubtful transactions. They have to collect proper details about the consumer purchasing any product including mixer, grinder or pressure cookers beyond a particular limit,” said the DEO. In this regard, the DEO is planning to hold a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce and Traders’ Associations on Monday.
Take permission
The DEO has also instructed the self-help groups (SHGs) to inform and seek permission if they are planning to organise any meetings.
“It has come to notice of DEO that political parties are using self-help groups to distribute money during the elections. This has occurred even in the previous elections. Hence, SHGs has been instructed to seek permission before any meeting,” he said.
He added that instructions have been sent to organisations that are implementing the Central government schemes like National Urban Livelihood Mission to inform and take permission before any meetings with the SHGs.
