New Delhi: Days ahead of the announcement of the schedule of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Monday directed the commission's observers "to ensure a level-playing field for "intimidation and inducement-free elections".
His remarks came during a meeting for poll observers to be deployed for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Over 2,150 senior officers drawn from IAS and IPS as well as officers from Indian Revenue Service and few other Central Services attended the meeting which was organised in a hybrid mode at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Few officials joined virtually from the office of Chief Electoral Officers in their respective States and UTs. Around 900 General Observers, 450 Police Observers and 800 Expenditure Observers are being deployed in the forthcoming elections.
In his address, the CEC emphasised that "observers as representatives of the Commission are expected to conduct themselves professionally and be accessible to all stakeholders including candidates."
Kumar instructed the Observers "to be tough but polite in their conduct on the field" and asked them "to visit the polling stations and familiarise themselves with the geography and take stock of any vulnerabilities and sensitive areas."
During the crucial meeting, the poll observers were asked to widely circulate their contact numbers on the day of arrival of observers in their respective constituencies, and to be confined physically within the boundaries of the Parliamentary Constituency they are allotted. They were directed to visit as many polling station locations and vulnerable areas as possible and interact with people living in these areas and identify vulnerabilities and criticalities of such areas and ensure measures to be taken to address them amongst others.
As reported earlier, sources in the poll panel told ETV Bharat that the CEC will fly to Srinagar for its review of preparations for the elections in Jammu Kashmir. The visit to J&K on March 12 and 13 will be his last visit to a state/UT before the announcement of the schedule of Lok Sabha elections. During this visit to J&K, the poll panel is expected to meet different stakeholders including political parties and officials from civil administration and police.
Sources said that the poll panel could also assess feasibility for holding assembly polls in J&K along with Lok Sabha election. On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court had directed the Election Commission to hold J&K Assembly polls by September 30, 2024.
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