Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar on Tuesday clarified that the Election Commission had only followed basic rules of the EC and other State-specific laws and rules in Tamil Nadu.
He was responding to a question on Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's remarks that the EC was stringent only in Tamil Nadu and not in other States that went to polls along with it.
“The basic rules [of the Election Commission] are the same [across the country]. Whatever rules were in force in Tamil Nadu were implemented,” the CEO said.
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He cited implementation of the Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1959 as an example. Not only during election time, it had to be always implemented. “We have followed only the rules,” Mr. Praveen Kumar told reporters here.
He was here in connection with the training programme for counting of votes in which the District Election Officers, Returning Officers and other officials from seven southern districts participated.
The conduct of Assembly elections in Madurai district had seen a lot of improvement compared to the conduct of by-elections in the district in the past. “Money distribution could not be done openly. It was done stealthily and that too only in small amounts,” he said.
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The Election Commission is monitoring the process of filing charge sheets in poll-related cases. Around 62,000 cases have been registered in Tamil Nadu, of which 700 pertain to money distribution. Over 50,000 cases were with regard to wall-writing and other similar issues.
On the complaint of some officials on poll duty that they were unable to cast postal ballot, he said in some cases the filled-in Form 12 was not received or the duty certificate not attached. The Commission would look into such complaints. Additional Chief Electoral Officer P. Amutha was present.