Chief Election Commissioner’s statement on two days visit to Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti was in Gujarat on two days visit to review the preparedness for upcoming Gujarat assembly general elections. Following is the full text of the statement issued by the Election Commission on this visit:

ECI statement

1. During this visit, the Commission met various political parties to understand their issues and concerns. Commission noted their suggestions for holding free fair and peaceful elections in the state
2. Commission reviewed work of DMs, SPs, Police Commissioners, DIGs/IGs and discussed issues with Chief secretary, Home secretary, DGP and other senior officers of the State Government.

• Commission also discussed strategy with various Enforcement agencies.

Issues raised and suggestions made by the Political Parties:

1. Law and Order

 

• Some Political Parties demanded that CAPF should be deployed in all sensitive polling stations.
• Parties wanted that name of Observers and phone numbers should be publicized and meetings of observers with political parties be organized on regular basis. Similarly, name of the nodal officers of MCC should also be publicized.
• Political Parties requested that necessary direction may be issued to ensure that all outsiders leave the constituencies 48 hours prior to polling.

 

2. MCC related

 

• They demanded that Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and other instructions issued by Election Commission be strictly complied by the RO and Election Authorities and they must work in an impartial manner.

 

• Some political parties demanded that election related officials and those officers who were posted in same constituency in 2012 elections, should not be posted at the same place.

 

• Some Parties demanded that Single Window Clearance System ,Suvidha may be made effective to grant permission to the candidate and the political parties for holding of election meetings and other election related permission faster.

 

3. Abuse of Money:

 

1. Some Political Parties demanded to ensure that Common man and common businessman should not be put to inconvenience during implementation of expenditure monitoring mechanism of FSTs and SSTs.

 

4. Electoral roll:
5. Political parties requested that polling agent may be allowed to be appointed from within the same constituency instead of present provision of appointment form polling area and nearby. They also demanded that police clearance should not be made mandatory for their appointment.

 

5. EVM/VVPAT
6. Political party demanded that demonstration should be organised for political parties after candidate setting of EVM and VVPAT.
7. Political party demanded to remove the clause of punishment to voter if his/her complaint regarding wrong recording of vote in VVPAT is turn out to be incorrect.
8. One Political party demanded that Jammers should be installed at strong rooms and polling station areas and mobiles should not be allowed within 200-meter area of polling stations.

 

6. MCMC

 

1. Political parties appreciated the working of MCMC committees for granting pre-certification certificates expeditiously within prescribed time frame.

 

2. Some political parties demanded that Free broadcast time should be given to political parties on private TV channels also as is being done on AIR and Doordarshan.

 

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The Commission took note of the concerns and suggestions of the political parties and assured them that the Commission would put in place an effective mechanism to ensure smooth conduct of entire poll process in a free, fair, transparent and inclusive election.

The Commission has directed the State Election Machinery to ensure effective monitoring & vigilance, comprehensive planning and discipline at all levels to address the concern of the political parties and instil confidence in the electorate to exercise their franchise without fear, coercion, intimidation or inducement. Commission further directed that   entire electoral process must be conducted in a free and fair manner and all possible steps must be taken to ensure that every elector is able to exercise his/her franchise without any threat, intimidation or inducement.

Commission has deployed General, Police and Expenditure Observers for Election Management and Expenditure Monitoring.

 

 

 

ELECTORAL ROLLS:

The CEO Gujarat has informed that as on 16 November,2017, the position of voters in Electoral Roll is :

	Male	Female	Third Gender	Total
No. of Voters As on 16.11.17	2.26 Cr	2.08 Cr.	702	4.35 Cr.

 

17.46  Lac new voters have been added.

12.37Lac  first time voters in 18-19 age cohort have been added.

As per the Commission’s direction, a special drive was launched on 9^th October, which concluded on 25^th October,2017.  During this campaign, BLO has

• Distributed EPIC cards to newly registered Electors
• Added new voters and took the forms from citizens to get them registered as Voter
• Collected the names of Absentee, shifted and dead voters (ASD) but no new deletion tookplace.

1. 39 Lac names of shifted and dead voters from the electoral rolls have been deleted during the revision.
2. After the final publication of the Electoral Roll on 25^th September,17 the Electoral Rolls has been uploaded on the CEO’s Website and copies of the final Rolls have been given to all Recognized Political Parties. All new additions and deletions have been made available to all political parties at field level.
3. As per the Commission’s guideline, no suo-moto deletions are made in an election year. In Gujarat Election, the Commission made special decision that no deletion is allowed after 25-09-2017 in the Electoral Roll. A deletions list of the Roll published on 25-09-2017 has also been given to all Political Parties so that they can draw ERO’s attention if any name is wrongly deleted.
4. Percentage of photo coverage in the electoral roll is 99.99 % and EPIC coverage is 99.99 %.
5. The EPICs for the newly enrolled electors in the final roll published on 25-09-2017 have been distributed. As special drive for enrolment of electors was taken up from 09-10-2017 to 25-10-2017. EPICs have been distributed to newly enrolled electors during the special drive. The remaining EPIC cards shall be issued to electors soon.
6. Extensive Training has been given to Polling Staff and the BLOs. The EROs, AEROs and the Sector Officers have also been given the Training.
7. DEOs have been directed to ensure that Photo Voter Slips are issued to all eligible voters at least 7 days before the day of Poll in all the 182 Assembly Constituencies. The General Observers who would be deployed in the districts would be monitoring the progress of distribution of Photo Voter Slips by the BLOs.

 

POLLING STATIONS:

1. Presently there are a total of 50,264 Polling Stations at 28678 polling locations.
2. I am very happy to inform that AMF( Assured Minimum facilities) has been provided to all 50,264 Polling Stations. The status of Assured Minimum Facilities of these Polling Stations is as follows:

 

3. Present Status of AMFs:
   • Ramp 95 %
   • Drinking water 100%
   • Toilets 100%
   • Electricity 100%
   • Waiting Room/Shade 95%

 

EVM and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT):

1. EVM machines with VVPATs will be used in all the 50264 polling stations of 182 Assembly Constituencies of state. VVPAT enables a voter to see the name of the candidate and the symbol of the candidate on paper to whom he has casted his vote.

 

2. As per the Commission’s directions, comprehensive awareness about the use of VVPAT have been carried out by the State level as well as by the district election machineries to acquaint the electors and the political parties about the features and transparency of the VVPAT.

LAW AND ORDER: SECURITY MANAGEMENT

1. State Administration, DMs and SPs have been directed to take steps to tone up the Security and Maintenance of Law and Order at the District, Tehsil and Village Level.
2. Instructions have been issued to all the SPs and Police Commissioners that Weapons of all the License Holders residing in their District/Commissionerate should be deposited with the concerned Police Station. The only exception would be the exempted category of License Holders.  After the Model Code of Conduct would be over, the Licensed Weapons would be given back to all the Licensed Holders.

 

3. As per the Directions given by the Commission, the Health and Family Welfare Department, Govt. of Gujarat has issued a GR dated 23^rd October, 2017 to provide Cashless Treatment Facility to all Civilian Polling Staff, Police Polling Staff and all the Jawans and Officers of the CAPF who would be deployed for Election Duties. As per the Provisions of the GR, the Polling Staff on duty would be able to get the best possible Medical Treatment in the nearest Hospital including the Private Hospitals in case of Medical Emergency as a Welfare Measure.

EXPENDITURE MONITORING

Commission reviewed with enforcement agencies to curb misuse of money/drugs/liquor &Freebies distribution. All DEOs will Constitute Election Expenditure Monitoring Teams as per ECI Instructions

1. 79 Expenditure Observers have been deployed in Gujarat Elections
2. 353 Income Tax officials have been deployed in all the districts for expenditure monitoring by the Candidates and the Political Parties.
3. 599 Flying Squads and 643 Static Surveillance Teams have been operationalized in all 182 Assembly Constituencies to check movement of cash, liquor, drugs and other Freebies in Gujarat. Adequate number of check post have been created to curb distribution of cash and liquor during election period.
4. A committee under chairmanship of District Development Officer with other officers has been set up in each district for the release of confiscated cash/items seized by FS/SST and other police authorities, after due Verification.
5. Strict implementation of Model Code of Conduct is being done byCompetent Authorities.
6. The vehicles used by flying squads and Static Surveillance Teams have been fitted with GPS to track their movement and prompt action.
7. A 24 X 7 control room has been set up and a 24 X 7 toll free number, (phone no 1800 233 1313)has been started, which is widely publicised.
8. After announcement of Elections, affidavits filed by candidates are being uploaded on website of the CEO, Gujarat, so that all the voters and Income Tax authority would be able to carry out Verification.
9. Air intelligence Units of IT authorities have been set up at the Airports of Ahmadabad Domestic, Ahmadabad-International, Baroda, Kandla, Surat, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Porbandar, Rajkot, Bhuj and Diu.
10. IT Teams have been deployed at the Railway Stations also.

Total Seizure of Cash,Liquor,Drugs/Narcotics and Precious Metals

(as on 1^st December,2017)

 

Total Cash seizure	Rs. 1.94 Crore
Total Liquor seizure	Worth Rs. 21.91 Crore (9.60 lakh litres)
Total Drugs/Narcotics seizure	Worth Rs. 3.50 lakh (35 KG Ganja)
Total Precious Metals seizure	Worth Rs. 8.17 Crore (37.943 KG of Gold/Bullion/Silver/Jewellery)
Value of Total Seizures	Rs. 35.52 Crore

 

 

MCMC AND PAID NEWS

• MCMC (Media Certification and Monitoring Committee) committees are functional at every district, while state level committee is located at state capital. To facilitate the candidates living at faraway places from district headquarters, Commission has directed that pre-certification requests for electronic media advertisements can be received at RO level. RO will forward these requests to MCMC committee at district level. After certified advertisement received from MCMC committee, RO will deliver the certificate to the candidate in a time bound manner.
• MCMC committees are regularly monitoring the possible cases of paid news.

 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES:

The Commission has been successfully utilizing Information Technology based applications during elections, not only for improved facilitation of the various stakeholders like electors, election managers, political parties and candidates, but also to ensure efficient and effective monitoring of various elections processes and redressal of Public grievances.

Some of the important IT initiatives are as follows:

• SAMADHAN: Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System

A comprehensive, robust and reliable Public Grievance Redress System has been developed by the Election Commission to provide a common platform for all complaints, grievances, concerns and suggestions lodged by any member of the public, including our various stakeholders like political parties, candidates, civil society groups etc. A citizen has the multi-modal facility to lodge any election-related complaint via bouquet of channels/sources like Website, Email, letter, fax, SMS, Call-centre (Call-center Number is ‘’1950’’) etc. A Mobile App shall also be made available for the people, so that they can submit complaints with photographs/videos on the common platform.

(b) SUVIDHA: Single Window Permission System

A single window system for giving election-related permissions/clearances within 24 hours has been created. In this system, Candidates and Political Parties can apply for permissions for Meetings, Rallies, vehicles, temporary election office, loudspeakers etc at a single location, where back-end convergence of various authorities/departments has been done. This system is put in place at every RO level in each sub-division, which will provide for applying, processing, granting and monitoring permissions in a synergistic manner. However, in case of permissions for Helicopter usage/landing and use of helipads, the application shall have to be submitted at least 36 hours in advance.

(c) SUGAM: Vehicle Management System:

It is an IT-based Vehicle Management System with the facility of issuance of requisition letters for vehicles, capturing of vehicle details with address, mobile number and bank details of owner and driver, transfer of vehicles from one district to another district etc.

• ELECTION- ATLAS:

e-Atlas (GIS-Maps) has been prepared for 182 -Assembly Constituencies of the State. GIS maps contains P.C. layers, AC layers, Polling Stations layers with information of DEOs, ROs, BLOs & AMF, Vulnerable & Critical Polling Stations etc.

 

• RONET: is an integrated application of several applications clubbed in one. This application will be used to monitor various activities of Gujarat Vidhan Sabha Elections-2017. This application contains various modules like Candidates, Permission Requests, EVM & VVPAT, Polling Staff, Training, Pre-Poll Arrangement, Poll Day, Law & Order etc.
• e-Payment:- Payments related to elections would be made through e-Payment gateway.

 

• Webcasting shall be done at selected no of polling stations.

Measures taken for Voter Facilitation and making Election inclusive and voter friendly

Voter Facilitation

1. As per the Commission’s directions, all the necessary arrangements for facilitation and conveyance of voters at the polling stations have been made to ensure a smooth and comfortable voting experience.

All Women Managed Polling Stations (SAKHI) :

1. I am happy to inform that for the First Time, the Commission has decided to set up a minimum of one all Women Managed Polling Station in the 182 Assembly constituencies of the State. I would like to appreciate the Follow up Action which has been taken by the CEO and all the DEOs wherein they have selected one polling station as All Women Managed Polling Station in all the 182 Assembly constituencies of the State. All such Polling Station will be given a unique identity with a maroon coloured sign board / banner. 2. Revised Photo Voter slips, voter guide, voter facilitation posters have been provided. Height of voting compartment has been increased from 24 Inch 30 Inch.

ACCESSIBLE ELECTIONS:

1. The Commission has laid special emphasis on making the election process accessible for all sections of the electorate, especially the Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), aged and infirm electors etc. Towards this objective, comprehensive and consolidated guidelines would be issued for making special arrangements like all polling premises will be provided with sturdy Ramps (temporary or permanent) for barrier free access and proper link roads to polling stations. All necessary arrangements have been done.
2. A data base of PWD voters has been created and such electors are enrolled and mapped with Polling Station, the list of which has been given to BLOs to provide assistance.
3. Special facilities to PWD voters like wheel chair, waiting area, queue assistance, parking area, ramps, escort would be provided.
4. Braille ballot paper for easy readability by the visually impaired voters would be provided.

SVEEP:

 

1. As per the Commission’s directions, a participative and people-friendly SVEEP campaign to transform into a peoples’ movement to create a festive buzz about in this election have been carried out. All the media including outdoor and indoor, cinema hall, video vans and social media have been used.
2. The students of Educational Institutions and people at large have taken pledge for ethical voting. As a part of innovative activity, about 15 lakh people had taken pledge for ethical voting during Navratri Mahotsav.
3. Over 210 various creative have been disseminated through social media i.e. face book & twitter page of CEO/DEO .
4. Booth Awareness Groups (BAG) have been established by DEOs.
5. The focus of SVEEP is on improving gender ratio and increasing poll percentage, ethical voting.
6. 859 Campus Ambassadors and 1134 Nodal Officers of educational institutions have been involved in voters’ awareness activities.
7. About 80 lakh SankalpPatra (Pledge) have been distributed to the parents of the students studying in the schools, which contained pledge on ethical voting and photographic information on EVM – VVPAT.

 

Regular Media Interaction :

1. The Commission considers media as its formidable ally and a force-multiplier in ensuring efficient election management and effective compliance of all laws, instructions and guidelines of the Commission.
2. Commission has issued a comprehensive press note on media related issues immediately after the announcement of the polls. Media is expected to follow these regulations during election process.
3. Commission has directed CEOs and DEOs to use social media for the benefits of voters and polling which have is being done extensively at the state and district level.
4. Regular press briefings are being held by the CEO and the DEOs and all crucial information on election related matters are being periodically informed to all stakeholders through the media.

 

Finally

 

Commission is committed to maintain purity of elections and to deliver Free, Fair and Transparent elections.

 

• Commission has directed the State level and District level Election Machinery to be fearless, unbiased, neutral and independent from any influence whatsoever. Conduct and discharge of duties by the election officials would be under constant watch of the Commission.

 

DeshGujarat