PUDUCHERRY: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Dr V Candavelou reiterated that the state government has submitted a report on the alleged backdoor appointments to Election Commission of India (ECI).
Addressing the reporters on Wednesday, the CEO informed, when asked, that the commission is examining the report on the alleged backdoor appointment and did not reveal anything further.
It may be noted that opposition political parties, Congress, Left parties, - CPI, CPI (M), VCK, had alleged that numerous workers were given appointment through back door by the ruling AINRC in various Government departments and Public Sector undertakings.
They even alleged that some of the backdoor appointments were made the Model Code of Conduct came into effect on March 4.
The CEO said a total of 21,053 more new voters were added to the electoral list and as on Tuesday, the number of voters is 9, 48, 717.
Revealing that some more applications are expected to be received before the notification date, he said the second supplementary list will be released on April 29.
He also said the election department continues to receive applications for inclusion, updation etc, but these will be taken up after the poll process.
Referring to the notification of assembly polls to be issued by the Lieutenant Governor on April 22, he said one candidate can file nominations for contesting in two constituencies only. A candidate can file a maximum of 4 nominations using one deposit of Rs 10000 for general seat and Rs 5000 for reserved seat, he added.
He informed that after the notification on April 22 morning, the candidates can file their nominations from 11 am t 3 pm on all days except on public holidays.
Only five people, including the candidate, will be allowed to enter the office of Returning officer for filing of nominations, he said and added that a candidate shall use three vehicles for reaching the office, where the nominations are filed.
Vulnerable booths
Dr Candavelou said as per the instructions of the ECI, the election department has identified 132 vulnerable polling stations and added that this number may go up in the coming day after the reassessment process.
He revealed that a candidate contesting in Union Territory can spend a maximum of Rs 20 lakhs for meeting the election expenditure. The CEO said the candidate can file their details of expenditure through e-filing system to the IT department.
He said Income Tax department has formed three special teams for election expenditure monitoring.
Dr Candavelou said thirty eight Model Code of Conduct violations were filed so far after the announcement of polls.
A total of Rs 76 lakhs was seized out of which 57.6 lakhs was returned after the parties concerned submitted relevant documents.
Webcasting planned
Chief Electoral Officer Dr V Candavelou said the webcasting of all the 930 polling stations will be done during the polls.
He said a mobile application, “General information to Voters” has been n developed in association with National Informatics Centre (NIC) and a download link “Mobile App” is available in the official website, http://ceopuducherry.py.gov.in for downloading this in smart phone.
According to the CEO, the application will help voters to find their polling station and on polling date it will give trend details of the all the 30 assembly constituencies.
He revealed that this time the counting in Puducherry region will be done at two centers, Bharathidasan Government College for Women and Women’s Polytechnic College at Lawspet. There will be one counting centre each in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.
The CEO said the voters will be provided with basic amenities like safe drinking water etc and arrangements will be in place for dealing with medical emergencies also.
He said the Union Territory has 15, 533 differently abled voters and students volunteers in the polling stations will assist them in exercising their franchise. He added that the
He said the voters will be distributed booth slips five days before the poll dates.