Steps taken to ensure free and fair polls in Palnadu says District Collector

Action has been taken against 25 government employees, including suspension of twelve village and ward volunteers and issued show cause notices to others for violating MCC
Palnadu District Collector Sivashankar Lotheti
Palnadu District Collector Sivashankar Lotheti Photo | Express

GUNTUR: Palnadu district administration is taking all necessary action to enforce election code in the district, said Collector Sivashankar Lotheti. Addressing a press conference at Palnadu Collectorate in Narasaraopet on Wednesday, he said that since the Model Code of Conduct came into force, as many as 11,225 complaints regarding wall writings, posters and banners in public properties have been resolved within a few hours after receiving. Along with this, a total of 3,838 posters, banners, and wall writings in private properties have been removed, he added.

“Action has been taken against 25 government employees, including suspension of twelve village and ward volunteers and show cause notices have been issued to others for violating MCC,” the Collector said.

Briefing on the ‘cVIGIL’ mobile application, the collector appealed to the people to download and install the app to report and help authorities keep a tab on any malpractices during elections. “The alert on the app will mobilise flying squad teams immediately within five minutes. As of now, over 100 complaints have been received on the app since the announcement of the election schedule,” he explained.

Stating that there are media certification and monitoring cells, and election expenditure monitoring cells to observe spending of candidates, the Collector said that checkposts have been set up on inter-state and inter-district borders and vehicle inspections have been intensified. Till now, unaccounted cash and freebies worth Rs 1.5 crore have been seized, he informed.

The Collector urged the people, especially farmers and businessmen, not to carry more than Rs 50,000 in cash and carry all required documents with them without fail.

He also stated that, as per the directions of the Election Commission of India, stern action would be taken against any violation of the MCC.

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