VIJAYAWADA: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena has directed the District Election Officers (DEOs) to effectively utilise Election Seizure Management System (ESMS).
Ahead of the review meeting to be conducted for the Chief Secretaries and DGPs by the Election Commission of India (ECI) officials on April 3, the CEO organised a video conference meeting with the DEOs on Friday and asked them to alert the enforcement agencies on ESMS.
Underscoring the need for constant vigil in the districts and bordering areas, Meena also wanted the officials to place a stoic surveillance team with a camera at every bordering checkpost.
Stating that a postal ballot facility will be provided to the employees of 33 departments like police, energy, transport and postal, the CEO directed the officials to also extend the facility for the media personnel, who are on election duty.
He made it clear that political parties should take prior permission for the conduct of any programme as the Model Code of Conduct is in force, and said that political parties can approach directly or file the application through the ENCORE portal for permissions.
Asserting that the officials should be on high alert in maintaining law and order, he wanted them to take precautionary measures to curb any sort of untoward incident. Immediate steps should be taken to control the situation and the fact report should be submitted to the CEO’s office, he added. The CEO also wanted the DEOs to resolve all the pending Form 7 and 8 applications by March 26.
All DEOs, Additional CEOs P Koteswara Rao and MN Harendhira Prasad, Joint CEO Venkateswara Rao and other officials were present.