IMPHAL, February 12: The 16th Lok Sabha elections model code of conduct is likely to commence from first week of March and the election will be conducted during the month of April. This was stated by Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur O Nabakishore.
Briefing the media at the office of the Director, DIPR this afternoon, the CEO said that the upcoming 16th Lok Sabha polls may be completed during the month of April and the election model code of conduct may start from March first week.
Elections in the state will be held in two phase of election: one for the outer constituency in the first phase while the polls for the inner constituency will be conducted later.
The Election Commission of India called a meeting on February 10 with the CEOs of all the states in the country in attendance at Maidan Bhawan,Delhi.
“The meeting discussed the introduction of new electoral rolls and the release of the pending latest electoral rolls of each state. The CEOs of the states were instructed to transfer officers who were posted in the same area for three years. The state government has to implement the ECI directive with effect from this month. A state co-ordination committee with various officers of all the departments of the state is going to be constituted. A four member team has already left Imphal for Delhi to get the training.
The committee will have the chief secretary of the state as the chairman and officials of the home, health, education and various departments will also be a part of the committee. The first meeting of the committee will be convened on February 17 around 11 am.”
Flying squads from the statistic surveillance, income tax, finances and Excise departments will monitor the election expenditure. The monitoring cell will have one observer which will be deputed by the ECI and another assistance observer.
A media certification and monitoring committee will be constituted in a state and district level that will give the permission for advertisements in the media after due verifications. The CEO will be the chairman of the state committee that will also have other media persons along with DIPR officials. The committee for the Churachandpur district has already been formed.
Reminding those who were left out in the published electoral roll of the State by mistake to fill up a form-6 from the concerned SDOs and submit it in time to the concerned SDO, he urges all the voters to exercise their right to cast their valuable vote in the elections.
“The online submission for the form-6 for the correction in the electoral roll will start from today as the directive has been issued to the officials. Fresh EPIC cards will be issued to new voters and the older voter card holders have been issued the EPIC card earlier. EVMs will be used in the polls and some EVMs with defects are sent to Bangalore for repairing which will be delivered after 14 days. The EVMs in the state are well enough for the election. From February last week, the training for the election duty will start for every officer. Election voting compartments will be properly made with plywood to maintain the security of the voters. Live-web casting will cover some sensitive areas with videography etc so that the movements inside the poll booth may be monitored from a distance,” the CEO O Nabakishore said.