No selfies: Phones banned within 100m radius of poll booths 

 Electors may not be able to take selfies in front of polling booths on April 18 as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned the use of mobile phones during voting.
Representational Image
Representational Image

CHENNAI : Electors may not be able to take selfies in front of polling booths on April 18 as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned the use of mobile phones during voting.

Chief Electoral Officer Satyabratra Sahoo told reporters on Monday that except officials deployed on election duty and police personnel, no one will be allowed to carry mobile phones up to 100m radius from the booths. “The restriction will be applicable to mediapersons as well,” he said.

Explaining further, he said the restriction was imposed mainly to avoid any law and order problems during poll day. There will be no provision to keep phones at booth, he said.  He said a total of 4,466 cases had been registered for violation of model code of conduct across the State, which included cases under The Representation of the People Act. 

“A total of 1,410 cases had been registered against DMK and 1,119 cases slapped on AIADMK for various violations. The rest were against other parties, including Congress, BJP, PMK and DMDK,” he said. Of the 261 cases registered for distribution of cash, disrupting poll work and other violations, AIADMK topped with 68 cases, followed by AMMK with 55.

On seizure of unaccounted cash by flying squads and I-T department, Sahoo said totally Rs 132.91 crore had been seized of which Rs 65.01 crore had been returned to the respective owners, after completing the due procedures. The EC has received 2387 complaints through cVIGIL mobile app of which action is being taken on 1076 complaints, while the remaining cases are under different stages of inquiry. 

To a query on overseas voters, Sahoo said the State has a total of 924 voters who live in foreign countries. “Those voters can cast their vote in the designated polling booths and they will not be able to vote through any other mode,” he said.

On casting of postal ballots by government employees who are assigned election duties, the official said a total of 4,22,239 persons are eligible for postal ballots for Lok Sabha elections. So far 2,03,413 postal ballots had been issued of which 101473 had cast their votes. Totally, 97,467 postal ballots were in the process of being cast. The remaining employees will be able to cast their votes in the coming days, Sahoo said.

Three more campaign ads banned
Chennai:
A day after stalling the telecast of three election campaign advertisements of the ruling AIADMK, which targeted the DMK, the Election Commission has banned telecast of three more videos of the AIADMK, DMK and Congress as the content violated the model code of conduct in force for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 18 in Tamil Nadu.

In an order issued on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said the AIADMK’s election campaign video titled, ‘Oru Kudumba Aatchi’ (A family’s rule), had violated the model code, which mandates that other parties and their workers shall not be criticised, based on unverified allegations or on distortions. Similarly, a Congress video showing bodies of farmers and a DMK video displaying the religious symbols of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam have also been banned for violating the poll code

Over 30k poll stations to be monitored 
Chennai:
To ensure transparency and peaceful conduct of elections on April 18, Election Commission (EC)  has set up a control room to monitor over 30,000 polling stations across the State through web streaming on poll day. The exercise will cover 8293 polling stations which are identified as 'critical, vulnerable and senstitive' by EC. A release said that 16 district revenue officers have been deputed to monitor the Control room set up at Chief Electoral Officer's office on April 10. Of the 16 DROs, 13 of monitor 39 Lok Sabha constituencies and one DRO will monitor 18 Assembly constituencies where bypolls will be held.

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