Chandigarh, January 9
Promising to ensure a free and fair poll in Punjab, the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Mr N. Gopalaswami, today issued a warning to all civil and police officials saying “every official’s performance is being closely monitored on an apolitical and neutral basis”.
He ruled out immediate action against the Director-General of Police, Mr S.S. Virk, but added: “He has been advised to be neutral or else we have to take action”.
Also, there was no move to
shift Mr Mohd Mustafa, IG, Border Zone, and there was no immediate cause of action against the Deputy Commissioner of Moga, Mr S.K. Sharma, said the CEC while addressing a press conference at the end of his two-day visit here to oversee preparations for the Assembly
elections in Punjab. Issuing a warning to all officials in Punjab, Mr Gopalaswami said: “The EC will be watching all officials to ensure a free and fair poll”. Each of
the 117 constituencies would have an observer.
The Shiromani Akali Dal had yesterday complained against Mr Virk, Mr Mohd Mustafa, whose wife is a sitting Congress MLA, and Mr S.K. Sharma.
In the case of Mr Virk, the SAD had expressed apprehensions and no action could be taken on that basis, Mr Gopalaswami said. When pressed with a question that the SAD claimed to have provided evidence of teleprinter messages allegedly sent by Mr Virk to his force, he said: “No answer to that question”.
With regard to various complaints and suggestions made by political parties at a meeting yesterday, the CEC said the printing of calendars by the Punjab Government having the photograph of the Chief Minister should be stopped. Those calendars that had been printed should not be distributed any further. In case such calendars had been distributed, these should not be displayed in the offices of the government. An inquiry had been ordered into the controversy of back-dated cheques being distributed by an official.
The police had been asked to get all firearms deposited in their respective areas and provide a districtwise breakdown of proclaimed offenders. The Deputy Commissioners had been asked to remove all billboards having photographs of political leaders. He said sufficient number of police personnel from other states would be sent to Punjab to ensure a free and fair poll.
He, however, refused to divulge the number of such companies or the exact number of police personnel to be deployed. Half of the force would reach the state by January 30 and the rest till February 7, he added.
Replying to a question regarding how many officials in Punjab had faced action at the hands of the EC for alleged violations of the code of conduct, the CEC said: “Come to my office. I will give you the figures”. He had no reply to another question as to what action the EC had taken in the case relating to persons who could not vote during the last elections. He said “there is nothing in our notice”.
It was then pointed out to him that the Punjab Government had appointed an IAS officer to look into this and he had given a report saying several persons could not cast their votes.
The CEC said there were vacancies of Returning Officers (ROs) and Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) in the state. These would be filled by January 12. The final voters’ list would be printed and distributed by January 15. An additional 2,000 electronic voting machines would be transported from Madhya Pradesh.
Electoral pictoral identity cards (EPIC) had been issued to 86 per cent of the voters and the figure was likely to reach 95 per cent by month-end, the EC said. Till now, the decision was that anybody who did not have the ID card would not be allowed to cast his or her vote. A final decision would be taken on February 1.
The ROs of 11 Assembly constituencies where the EPIC issuance was less than 80 per cent had been directed to expedite the work, he said.
The CEC said the final hearing on the notices to 33 legislators, including the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, on holding of offices of profit would be held in due course.He was non-committal on whether the complaints of the SAD-BJP alliance would be disposed of before the February 13 elections.
