Teams to be formed for enforcing model election code in Mysuru

Deputy Commissioner K B Sivakumar, who is also the District Election Officer said on Tuesday that with the Election Commission of India announcing Assembly elections on May 12, the model code of conduct will be effectively implemented in all the 11 Assembly segments in the district.

Addressing media persons at ZP office in the city, the DC said that the model code of conduct will be in place till the conclusion of election process.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has fixed Rs 28 lakh per candidate for election expenditure. Teams will be formed to monitor the expenditure of the candidates, after the nomination papers are filed. The ECI has fixed April 24 as last date to file nomination. The details of expenses of each candidate will be submitted to the ECI within a month of the election, the DC said.

A report on the present state of the ongoing development works will be prepared constituency wise, to prevent electoral malpractice. The vehicles provided for people's representatives will be withdrawn. The government vehicles cannot be used for election or party activities. Similarly, the advertisement posters and flex boards will be removed, Sivakumar explained.

For the first time, photographs of the candidates will be fixed to Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) to avoid confusion among the voters. The officers on election duty can cast their votes through postal ballot, the DC

The DC said, only qualified officials will be on duty for the election process. As many as 210 election officers and 33 flying squads will be formed. Each polling station will have one chief officer and four station officers. In all, 17,160 people will be on poll duty, he added.

Meanwhile, the authorities will create awareness on Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and about None of the Above (NOTA) votes. The authorities have already issued identity cards to the 97% of the voters and remaining will be distributed in a day or two.

ZP Chief Executive Officer P Shivashankar was present.