MANGLAURU: The
State Election Commission (SEC) has declared Bantwal and
Mangaluru City North, assembly constituencies represented by minister
B Ramanath Rai and Congress MLA
B A Mohiuddin Bava respectively, as ‘Expense Sensitive Constituencies’ (ESC).
The decision came in the backdrop of information obtained through state intelligence with regard to possible use of ‘money for vote’ in the constituencies. It may be recalled that Mohiuddin Bava was seen in a picture distributing sarees to residents in his constituency recently. Similarly, he had distributed books and other freebies in his constituency to commemorate his birthday last year.
To ensure
free and fair election in these ESCs, the commission will keep an extra vigil in two constituencies.
Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil said a decision to declare Bantwal and Mangaluru North constituencies was taken by the SEC. He said the commission will form 24 Model Code of Conduct teams in the district to monitor violations on part of political parties. In addition, 26 surveillance teams, 26 flying squads and 26 check posts will be introduced to check violation of model code of conduct, the DC said adding that additional observers will be deployed for Bantwal and Mangaluru North, which are declared as ESCs.
As a preventive action, 550 cases have been registered under Section 107 of CrPC. The police department and the district administration have short listed 11,955 licensed arms which will have to be surrendered during election. Election commission will use GPS based vehicle tracking and GIS enabled complete database of polling stations with digital maps for the election. The commission will integrate all election monitoring facilities under one platform. Tracking and swift intervention on critical complaints will be made possible through GIS. As many as 18 cases registered during previous elections are pending in various courts. Similarly, the Election Commission has disposed of 84 complaints received in the previous election, he added.
