ECI tells Chief Electoral Officer to immediately release seized non-poll cash
HYDERABAD: As it has been receiving several complaints over the general public being inconvenienced due to the seizure of cash that is not related to elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has instructed Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj to promptly release such funds after getting the clearance from the district grievance committees.
The ECI has raised concerns with the CEO and other senior officials involved in the upcoming polls. On Monday, the ECI received updates on the progress of preparations for the elections scheduled for November 30. It directed the State’s election machinery to address all pending issues, given that the nomination process is set to commence shortly.
During a video conference, Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas and Director of Expenditure at the ECI Pankaj Srivastava from New Delhi spoke to District Electoral Officers (DEOs), Superintendents of Police (SPs), and Commissioners of Police (CP) from Nalgonda, Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Jangaon, Warangal, Khammam and Hyderabad, among others.
Mahesh Bhagawat, the State Expenditure Monitoring Nodal Officer and Sanjay Kumar Jain, the State Police Nodal Officer, provided insights into the various measures undertaken in this context.
Additional CEO Lokesh Kumar gave a comprehensive overview of the arrangements made, including aspects such as security, polling staff facilities, complaint resolution mechanisms, the establishment of an integrated control room, strict adherence to the model code of conduct, promotion of c-Vigil applications, identification of vulnerable areas for future deployment of forces, formation of media certification and monitoring committees among other things.