Chief electoral officer, Manipur Rajesh Agrawal in a meeting with district election officers and superintendents of Police of the state, has urged to make a strict election management plan in the respective districts for smooth conduct of the forthcoming Manipur Legislative Assembly, 2022 election.
He was addressing the Review Meeting on Election Preparedness held on Monday at the conference hall of the office of the chief electoral officer, Lamphelpat.
Rajesh Agrawal informed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) team may visit the state at the beginning of next month. He said that more meetings for the district election officers and SPs will be conducted. He instructed the district election officers and SPs to discuss the facts and interchange ideas expressed during the meeting.
He further pointed out that with 90 days in hand to complete the whole process of election by March 19, 2022, it is important that every district election officer and SP put forth his/her doubts and issues regarding conduct of Election and raise it during the meeting.
This will help in coming up with a common understanding of the situations prevalent in the districts in general and will also aid in resolving any similar situations on time.
Emphasising on the importance of election preparedness, he said that everything needs to be set ready on time for the upcoming Election.
Nodal officer for law and order, ADGP, Manipur, L Kailun highlighting the importance of maintaining law and order in the state, especially during the upcoming elections, confirmed the statement of the chief electoral officer, Manipur regarding the issues and problems prevailing in all the districts.
L Kailun, expressing concern on the porous ‘state and international borders’, rise of unwanted activities, advised the concerned officials to stay alert, cooperate and tie up with the central forces to check illegal movements.
He also asked the officials to keep a tab on the rising trends of political clashes in the state. He stressed that such activities need to be nabbed and contained at the initial stage to avoid making the situations more complicated.
In order to ensure good conduct of election, early planning is required in far flung areas of the state where there is slow and poor communication and where connectivity problems prevail. He stressed that data on deposit of firearms for each district is the key indicator for proper management and maintenance of law and order.
PowerPoint Presentations (PPTs) were the main highlights of the Review Meeting with interaction among the officials.
The presentations were made by joint secretary election K Bono Singh on postal Ballots/ETPBS; SNO, EEM, Bingku Konsam on Election Expenditure Management and SNO, MCC, Yasser Ahmed on Model Code of Conduct.
District election officers of Churachandpur, Imphal West, Senapati, Bishnupur, Tamenglong, Imphal East, Thoubal, Kangpokpi, Jiribam and Chandel presented their information in the form of concrete District Election Management Plan (DEMP) PPTs and raised all issues that could be challenging for them in the conduct of the Poll Process.
The review meeting was attended by additional chief electoral officer Manipur Naorem Praveen Singh; Joint chief electoral officer, Manipur Ramananda Nongmeikapam, Joint chief electoral officer (II), Manipur, Md S Daulat Khan, coordinator, PMC and nodal officer (Media), W Phajatombi and officials concerned.
(DIPR)
