PUDUCHERRY: In the wake of concerns expressed by political parties on the contentious issue of the appointment of nominated MLAs by the Centre directly, which could alter the electoral verdict, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on Friday said that the Supreme Court has already already given its verdict on the issue and the Election Commission has no role in it.
Briefing newspersons after winding up a two-day visit of the Election Commission team under his leadership, Arora read out the provisions of the appointment of the nominated MLAs as well as the three bench order of the Supreme Court in the K Lakshminarayanan versus Union of India case on December 6, 2018.
When asked whether the nominated members could be counted to form a government, Arora said that when the Supreme Court had pronounced a judgement that the nominated members have got voting rights, it is for the petitioners to go back to the court and appeal before a larger bench or a full bench.
Political parties like the DMK and CPI in their petitions to the CEC on Thursday had sought the intervention of the Election Commission in the issue of appointing three nominated MLAs by the central government as it can undermine the electoral verdict.
Responding to political parties mulling a boycott of the polls till statehood is conceded, the CEC said one or two political parties mentioned about it during the two-hour discussion on Thursday and not all. “If somebody wants to boycott the polls it is also an exercise of their democratic rights,” he said.
Simultaneous elections would be held in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, said Arora. He said that the Commission is committed to ensure a free, fair, inducement free and Covid safe elections. It may be noted that the tenure of the present government in Puducherry ends on June 8.
The number of polling booths in the Union territory is being increased to 1564 from the present 952, he said. It has increased from 789 to 1330 in Puducherry and from 163 to 234 in Karaikal. Arora said that voters above 80 years and persons with disabilities would be allowed to vote through postal ballot. The demand for online voting by NRIs will be considered.
The commission has directed for randomisation of Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CAPF) and state police personnel through a committee of the Chief Electoral Officer, state police nodal officer and state CAPF coordinator. This is being done following allegations that the local administration takes its own view and gets influenced by those in power, said Arora.
With Tamil Nadu political parties raising the issue of smuggling of liquor from Puducherry to influence voters during the polls, Arora said that with liquor prices being the same now, the only issue is with arrack. He said this should be strictly prevented by the excise department.
Arora also released a book titled SVEEP (Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation). He also flagged off a vehicle to carry out awareness among voters on the verifiability, transparency and accountability of the deployment of VVPAT in elections and also give the public hands-on experience.
Earlier, during the visit, the team had discussions with political parties, District Election Officers and Superintendents of Police, Chief Electoral Officer and police nodal officers, besides meeting with election related regulatory agencies, Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, DGP and other senior police officials.
Sushil Chandra, ECI, Rajiv Kumar, ECI, Umesh Sinha, Secretary General, Chandra Bhushan Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner, Mrs Sheyphail B Sharand, ADG, Pankaj Srivastava, Director, and Mallay Mallick, Secretary, were the members of the team.