Northeast

Political parties must upload criminal antecedents of candidates: Manipur CEO Rajesh Agrawal

The chief electoral officer of Manipur said that political parties will face contempt of court if the criminal antecedents of their candidates are not uploaded at their respective parties’ website within 48 hours of announcing the candidate.

ByIFP Bureau

Updated 15 Dec 2021, 4:16 pm

(PHOTO: IFP)
(PHOTO: IFP)

 

Political parties will face contempt of court if the criminal antecedents of their candidates are not uploaded at their respective parties’ website within 48 hours of announcing the candidate, said chief electoral officer of Manipur Rajesh Agrawal on Tuesday.

Briefing to the media at the conference hall of chief electoral officer in Imphal West, Rajesh said that the Supreme Court has made such a ruling to ensure that the voters are fully aware about any criminal antecedents and can take a stand to choose the preferred candidate.

He said that the compliance report of the criminal antecedents of the candidates should also be submitted to the respective returning officers and chief electoral officer’s office for uploading the same in their respective websites and voter helpline apps.

Moreover, the political parties should also publish the criminal antecedents of their candidates in newspapers and televisions on three different occasions, he added.

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Rajesh informed that as per the report received by the chief electoral officer’s office, as many as 8,648 of the total 25,299 licensed arms have been deposited to police stations of Manipur.  

As per data, the present percentage of arms deposition is 35 per cent, he further said, adding, “We hope that it will reach beyond 60 per cent by the end of this month.”

In a political function held on October 25, Chief Minister N Biren Singh has already made an appeal to every licensed gun holder to deposit their guns at the nearest police stations to prevent unwanted incidents from happening during the election campaigns.

On the same day, the Home department had issued instructions to the deputy commissioners of all districts of the state to collect the licensed arms in view of the ensuing elections to the Manipur Legislative Assembly 2022.

The chief electoral officer also pointed out that certain security measures have been taken up to curb pre-poll violence. Sector officers and sector police officers have been appointed and trained, and are currently visiting the polling stations to identify vulnerable locations and voter segments, he said.

Steps also have been taken to identify those with a recorded past of breaking laws, trouble mongers and habitual offenders, he said, adding besides deploying micro observers and deployment of additional CAPF, all critical and vulnerable polling stations will be brought under webcasting or ideography.

He further informed that six assembly constituencies (Wangoi, Mayang Imphal, Thanga, Lilong and Churachandpur) have been identified as ‘Expenditure Sensitive Constituencies’.

In this regard, a flying squad, surveillance team and accounting team have been appointed and trained and they will be activated immediately on announcement of elections, he added.

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A meeting with enforcement agencies such as Income Tax, Customs, Excise, Narcotics, BSF, CISF, and Enforcement directorate was also held recently and deliberated at length on the expenditure aspects, he further informed.

The Special Summary Revision of Photo Electoral Rolls has been completed, during which 1,43,000 forms have been received, of which above 90,000 were fresh registrations, he said. The disposal of forms is ongoing and will be completed by December 20, he added.

According to their calculation, 6,588 vehicles of different types will be required for polling personnel and security personnel on poll duty. In this regard, requests have been sent to the transporter unions and government of Nagaland and Assam for extending cooperation in requisition of the vehicles.

He said that the ECI has also come up with ‘Broad Guidelines for Conduct of General Election/Bye Election during COVID-19’. In this regard, the chief electoral officer, Manipur and all district functionaries have committed to follow in letter and spirit and issue necessary instructions to candidates, political parties and voters at large, he added.

He said as per schedule fixed by ECI, the Final Electoral Rolls will be published on January 5, 2022 and it is expected that the voters of Manipur will cross 20 lakhs for the first time.

Rajesh also informed that they expect the full team of ECI led by chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra to be visiting the state soon.

The whole election process of the state will be completed before March 19, 2022 which is the day for convening a new Assembly session of Manipur, he added. 

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manipur assembly elections 2022criminal recordscriminal antecedentsManipur CEO Rajesh Agrawal

IFP Bureau

IFP Bureau

IMPHAL, Manipur

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