Manipur Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajesh Agrawal on Thursday pointed out that the Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) has published Format C-7 for 13 candidates having criminal antecedents while the Indian National Congress published the same for 11 candidates, and called on remaining political parties to publish Format C-7 for selecting candidates having criminal antecedents within 48 hours of selection of candidates.
Addressing mediapersons at the office of CEO, Lamphelpat, Imphal on Thursday, Agrawal reiterated that political parties’ compliance in Format C-8 should also be furnished to ECI/CEO within 72 hours of selection of such candidates.
Further, candidates having criminal antecedents should also publish declaration in Format C-1 and report compliance to RO immediately in three occasions (from the last date of withdrawal of candidature till 2 days before poll) in national newspapers, local newspapers, TV channels as specified or identified by CEO.
Political parties should also publish in Format C-4 and report compliance to the CEO on three occasions- in local newspaper, TV channels as specified by the CEO. Candidates should also file Revised Abstract Statement of Election Expenses and the same has been circulated to all ROs and all political parties, the CEO said.
Regarding law and order and seizure, the CEO informed that about 17,187 (74.8%) of total license arms (22,957) had been deposited and certain items, including cash-0.905, drugs-75.3660055, liquor- 0.3368542, gold and others-1.4197049, amounting to Rs. 78.027646 crore had been seized till date.
The CEO further informed that for the first phase election, notification has been issued by all Returning Officers (RO) on February 1, while the notifications for second phase will be issued on February 4.
In view of COVID-19, the number of persons to accompany a candidate for filing nomination is restricted to two and the number of vehicles is also restricted to two. He said that candidates should open separate bank accounts for incurring expenditure in the current general elections.
Rajesh said that permission for meeting, door to door campaigning should be obtained from District Election Officers in advance. Outdoor physical meeting allowed upto 1000 persons or 50% of the capacity of the ground or prescribed limit set by SDMA whichever is lesser.
Indoor meeting allowed up to 500 persons or 50% of the capacity of the hall or prescribed limit set by SDMA whichever is lesser. Door to door campaign allowed upto 20 persons excluding security personnel. No road show, physical rally, Pad-yatra, cycle/bike/vehicle rally and procession is allowed till February 11, 2022.
Every political party candidate should furnish an undertaking in the application form (under Suvidha) that it should abide by all the extant instructions or guidelines in this regard. Between 8 pm and 8 am, no rallies and public meetings (akin to campaign curfew) should be allowed on any campaign day, he added.
Mentioning that political parties should furnish Star Campaigners 39; list with number restricted to 30 for recognised parties and 20 for registered unrecognised political parties, he said that only Shiv Sena had submitted the ‘Star Campaigners’ 39; list so far. He asserted that requests for permission for campaigns by star campaigners may be submitted to the concerned authority at least 48 hours before the start of the campaign to make all necessary safety arrangements.
He said that out of 2,959 polling stations, nine auxiliary polling stations had been created in addition, now the total number of polling stations is 2968. He informed that altogether 3985 requests for postal ballots had been received out of which 773 were for PwD voters and 3212 for 80+ voters.
He also stated that dispersal for polling personnel for 330 polling stations would start from P-2 and for 35 polling stations P-3, located in far flung areas of Churachandpur, Chandel, Ukhrul and Tamenglong. And also, 18 intermediate strong rooms had been identified for keeping EVMs by the polling personnel of the polling stations.
He said that children should not be used for election process, like campaigning, carrying of campaigning material and all political parties/candidates should comply with ECI Instructions on the matter. He added that Pre certification by MCMC is mandatory for publication of political advertisements in newspapers on poll day and one day prior to poll by political parties or candidates.
Further, manifestos are not to be released during the prohibitory period (last 48 hours before the close of poll) in both phases as prescribed under Section 126 of the RPA, 1951.
He informed that a mobile app has been developed by the CEO, Manipur the App has features including information on average queue waiting time, Wheelchair service booking facility. Voters may avail this facility.
He further informed that 50 companies of Central Armed Police Force had been deployed in the state and more 75 companies will be arriving in the next two weeks.
Mentioning the Election Observers 39, he stated that a total of 20 general observers, 11 police observers, 20 expenditure observers and 3 special observers namely special general observer Pravir Krishna, IAS (Retd), special police observer Arun Kumar, IPS (Retd) and special expenditure observer Rajesh Tuteja, Ex IRS (IT) will soon visit the state.
Rajesh Agrawal informed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would visit Manipur on February 7, 2022 to review the poll preparedness for the ensuing election to the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly.
The Election Commission will hold meetings with the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Chief Electoral Officer, State Police Nodal Officer, DG Assam Rifles, recognized National/State political parties, District Election Officers, Superintendents of Police and Enforcement Agencies, he added.
As of now, one nomination from 16-Sekmai AC received till today, Rajesh said.
