Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar on Saturday clarified that the statues of leaders who are no more need not be covered on account of the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections.
“We have instructed all election officers not to cover the statues of the leaders who are no more now,” the CEO said when asked about the reports that the statues of leaders like Kamaraj and MGR have been covered. Responding to a question, he said the Collectors were engaged in forming the Village Awareness Committees comprising apolitical youth to keep a tab on the distribution of money and goods to the voters. Previously, the EC had christened the above committees as ‘Village-level Vigilance Committees.”
Asked whether the re-release of MGR-starrer Ayirathil Oruvan and its posters violated the model code, the CEO replied in the negative. But the EC had already ordered removal of the posters for this film.
As far as covering the ‘leaves’ drawn on small buses, the CEO said the Transport authorities had sought time till Monday.