Central EC team from Delhi visits telangana oversees poll preparedness state

Hyderabad: A team of election officials from New Delhi visited Hyderabad recently to ascertain the preparedness of the State election machinery prior to issuing notifications for conducting free and fair Legislative Assembly polls scheduled for November 30.

The team included Dharmendra Sharma, senior deputy election commissioner (EC), Nitesh Kumar Vyas, senior deputy EC and Avinash Kumar, principal secretary of the ECI who flew in from New Delhi and interacted with state chief electoral officer (CEO) Vikas Raj and other senior officials and bureaucrats. In a bid to fine-tune the poll preparedness, they gave several instructions and asked the state machinery to finish the pending works immediately.

Prompt clearance of pending applications

On the distribution of freebies, the New Delhi team directed the CEO and his network to add the cost of the freebies to the election expenditure of the candidate concerned, after the approval of nominations.

On seizures, they advised state officials to go lenient if the case is genuine and if convinced with evidence that the election code is not violated. At the same time, the team specifically enquired about the cases seized. On the seizure of liquor and narcotics, the CEC team instructed the enforcement agencies and state departments to find novel transportation routes instead of checks based on traditional methods.

The central team was keen on finding out the time of clearance regarding the pending applications of voters’ lists and the status of printing, distribution of EPIC cards, voter information slips etc. Dharmendra Sharma insisted on the clearance of Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) certificates on a daily basis.

‘Issue forms for postal ballots in advance’

The central team was informed that an integrated control room has already been set up for monitoring Flying Squad teams (FST), Static Surveillance Teams (SST), Suvidha, c-Vigil, Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) etc.

Dharmendra Sharma inquired about the status of setting up surveillance cameras at key polling stations. He directed the officials to issue prescribed forms for postal ballots for senior citizens and people with Disability (PwD) voters who wish to vote from the comfort of their homes, much in advance.

The central team was apprised of the arrangements made so far, by CEO Vikas Raj and other officials including Lokesh Kumr, additional CEO, Sarfaraj Ahmad, joint CEO and Satya Vani, deputy CEO through presentations.