EC plans postal ballots for 80-plus voters, extra time

CHENNAI: Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora, on Thursday revealed that the Commission is mulling several measures to ensure the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu is inducement-free. He also said the polling hours for the ensuing elections would be increased by an hour due to the Covid situation and the summer season.

Brushing aside apprehensions over the postal ballots for voters above the age of 80 years, Arora said this facility would be there for the Assembly polls. He added that the number of polling booths would go up from 68,324 to over 93,000 this time, due to the pandemic situation, and relevant mobilisation of more men and materials would be done.

Additionally, the by-election to Kanniyakumari parliamentary constituency, which fell vacant following the demise of Congress MP H Vasanthkumar, would be held along with the Assembly elections.

ECI upset over state agencies not Nabbing ‘big fish’

Addressing a press conference after wrapping up meetings with top officials and representatives of political parties here, along with his colleagues, Arora expressed confidence of conducting a free, fair and transparent election in all the five poll-bound States. A nswering a question on whether the ECI would come forward with more measures to check money power in Tamil Nadu, the CEC said, “There are several things we are planning to do and we shall do.

But, the details cannot be shared in the public domain for now. We have given instructions and we shall be conducting another meeting with senior officers and enforcement agencies after a week or 10 days, virtually, to review as to what is the outcome of the meeting we held today.”

Expressing displeasure over the work by some regulatory agencies of the State government ahead of the notification of polls, the CEC said: “In a State which has excise revenue of around Rs 34,000 crore, we felt much more could have been done in matters like seizures.” He added that the ECI was very disappointed about not apprehending the ‘big fish’ while catching small guys, some drivers, couriers, and foot soldiers.

The ECI has sought a special report on this matter from Additional Chief Secretary, Home, who also looked after the Finance Department, he added. A sserting that the ECI was sensitive to alleged inducements, he said that the Commission took the ‘harshest’ action by rescinding the elections to Vellore parliamentary constituency (2019) and bypolls to RK Nagar Assembly segment (2017).

“There shall be no Vellores and RK Nagars,” the CEC said, referring to the allegations of distribution of cash to voters and the ECI’s measures to prevent such attempts.

A rora said considering the allegations about inducements in Tamil Nadu, the ECI has decided to send Special Expenditure Observers besides the normal observers. This would be in addition to the district-level observers. He pointed out that such special observers shall be noted for their integrity and would be of the rank of retired secretaries of the Centre and also former chairpersons of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

He added that in all the five poll-bound States, the Central Armed Police Forces coordinator shall be at the apex level of a committee that allocated personnel from one place to the other. At the district-level, the senior most general observer would be part of the exercise on deputation of personnel.