Ready for free & fair polls: CEO Nagaland

March 21, 2024 16 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Kohima | March 21

Following the announcement of the general election to the Lok Sabha Parliamentary election 2024, Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Vyasan R today said that all the related preparatory activities are in place to ensure free and fair polls in the State.
Nagaland votes in the first of the seventh phase Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

During a meeting with media personnel held at the Commissioner’s Office Wednesday morning, Vyasan said polling will be held in 2342 polling stations across the State and 16,000 security personnel will be deployed for security measures.

Nagaland has 13.17 lakh voters comprising of 6.60 lakh females and 6.50 lakh males, he informed. A total of 19,000 individuals are first-time voters.

The CEO further stated that the focus is on the participation of the voters and curbing of the four Ms- Money, Muscle, Misinformation, and Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

On the preparation of the security aspects, State Police Nodal Officer (SPNO), Limasunep Jamir informed that since the enforcement of the MCC, security personnel are being deployed and checking of vehicles in multiple places are ongoing.

While five companies of BSF have arrived, he informed more would be arriving for security measures.

On being asked on the classification of polling stations, Jamir said out of the 2342 polling stations, 750 have been identified as critical.

However, it is a dynamic number, he added.

Further queried on the seizure of cash and other items, he said that some alcohol and drugs have been seized from Dimapur.
Informing that checking of vehicles would be intensified, the SPNO also sought the cooperation of the public and bear with the inconveniences.

He further revealed that monitoring of various social media platforms is ongoing at the Police Headquarters, and requested the public to inform of incidents to the nearest police station.

Although maintaining that the level of intensity is far less than the State election, Jamir said that the security apparatus is on guard to ensure that the democratic exercise takes place peacefully and smoothly.

Commissioner and Returning Officer, Sushil Patel said the election expenditure and monitoring are in place with flying squads, excise personnel, static surveillance team, video surveillance team, and accounting team.

He informed that the maximum limit for a candidate is Rs. 95 lakh and that anyone carrying more than Rs. 50,000 in cash without proper documents will be seized.

Meanwhile, emphasising the crucial role of the media towards ensuring free, fair, and peaceful election, officials from the Election department sought their support and cooperation in disseminating factual information with special stress on fact-checking.

The media personnel were also urged to create awareness and also highlight violations on enforcement of MCC and other laws relating to the election process.

IT applications related to elections such as Suvidha portal, affidavit portal, Know Your Candidate (KYC), Voter Turnout App, results website, cVIGIL App, Saksham app for person with disability and National Grievance Service Portal (NGSP) etc are avialble, the officials added.