Ludhiana, January 25
Deputy Commissioner S.K. Sandhu today told all candidates contesting the February 13 Assembly poll and the respective political parties to strictly follow and abide by the model code of conduct enforced by the Election Commission of India during the election campaign and cautioned that any violation would attract strict action against the defaulting candidate.
Mr Sandhu was addressing a joint meeting of the candidates in fray for the 12 assembly constituencies in the district and representatives of political parties in the Mini-Secretariat here. The meeting was convened to apprise the candidates of the provisions of the model code of conduct and various other directions, issued by the district administration for the smooth conduct of assembly elections in the district. All eight observers, appointed by the Election Commission of India, three SSPs of Ludhiana, Khanna and Jagraon police districts and returning officers attended the meeting.
Explaining the directions in the model code of conduct, the Deputy Commissioner asked the candidates and the political parties, not to indulge in any activity which might spark off hatred or tension among people of different castes, communities, religions or regions. Similarly, criticism on the basis of personality and personal life should not be resorted to. “There shall be no appeal on the basis of castes, communities and religion by any party to secure votes and there will be no use of places of worship for election campaign.” The candidates were also asked to refrain from other corrupt practices like offering bribe, threats or intimidation of the voters, impersonation at the time of polling, canvassing within 100m of polling booths and offering transportation facilities to the voters to and from the polling stations.
Mr Sandhu cautioned the political parties against making use of any private or government property for putting up posters or banners, erecting
flag staffs or writing election slogans without obtaining written permission from the owners of the property. The candidates were told that they would be liable for penal action under the Defacement of Property Act if charged with using private or government buildings to put up election propaganda material. He further asked the political parties to ensure that their supporters did not disturb or break up election meetings and processions, organised by other parties, while making it explicitly clear that nobody would be allowed to create disturbance of any kind during the campaigning period.
He further said that it would be mandatory for the parties and candidates to submit prior information to the local police authorities regarding the venue and time of the election meetings and processions, well in time, so that proper security arrangements could be made. The candidates would also have to inform about the time, date and route of the proposed procession in advance for security and traffic management purposes.
All printed material related to the election must bear the name of publisher and printer and a copy of each material has to be submitted with the Returning Officer concerned. Under the relevant Act, the violation of these instructions shall be a cognizable offence, punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine up to Rs 1000 or both.
On a point regarding the violation of code of conduct by some candidates, who came in big processions for filing nomination papers, the Deputy Commissioner informed that the administration had issued notices to the defaulters and their replier were awaited. The Deputy Commissioner said that any vehicle, fitted with loud speaker, without prior permission, would be confiscated along with sound equipment, as the sticker of loudspeaker permission was mandatory to be pasted on the vehicle, engaged for making announcement. Mr Sandhu announced that on the polling day, no vehicle, other than those duly permitted, would be allowed to ply around the polling centres.
Referring to the maintenance of accounts by the candidates, Mr Sandhu informed that three officers — Mr P.S. Brara (finance and accounts), Mr Harish Kumar (section officer) and Mr Shayam Singh (section officer) were designated to check the expenditure registered of the candidates and they would be daily available in the court room of ADC (general). Every candidate would have to get his expenditure register checked from them within every three days. He said that the expenditure observers would also check the expenditure registers on January 25, February 6, February 10 and February 23 in the Circuit House from 10 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.
All seven observers, who were leaving the city today, would be back on February 3 and would stay here till February 14. In their absence, the new observer, Mr Naryan Diwakar, who arrived today, would attend complaints relating to electioneering in Circuit House daily from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. He appealed to the candidates and political parties to cooperate with the administration in holding free, fair and fearless election in the city.
Mr R.C. Kanade, Election Observer, urged the candidates to carefully go through the directions and follow these strictly. He told them to contact the observer concerned in case they notice any kind of violation of model code of conduct in their respective constituencies.
