‘Zero tolerance’ on violation of model code : Election Commissioner

CORRESPONDENT
GANGTOK, April 8 – Election Commissioner Navin B Chawla has assured that the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Sikkim will be ‘micro-managed’ adding that there will be ‘zero tolerance’ on infringement of model code of conduct.

“Some political parties here told us that they are not happy with the way the 2006 Panchayat elections in the State had been conducted. We assured them that the upcoming elections in Sikkim will be micro-managed. Some parties complained about the election model code of conduct being violated. We have directed the SPs and DCs that there must be a ‘zero tolerance’ to the infringement on the model code of conduct especially to the defacement of public properties by postering and putting up flags on electricity poles”, said Chawla addressing the media here at Chintan Bhavan here on Sunday.

Chawla is accompanied by Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan and legal advisor SK Mandiratha. The high-level ECI team had arrived in Sikkim on Saturday on a two-day visit to take an assessment of the preparations for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the State.

They met the recognized political parties and had a session with the senior government officials including the Chief Secretary and DGP.

Briefing the media after completing his assessment trip, the EC said that some of the political parties had raised doubts about the credibility of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). While asserting that the EVMs cannot be tampered and have been tried and tested in several elections in the country, the EC said that ‘because of the doubts, we have brought new machines in Sikkim so that there are absolutely no apprehensions. If any machine malfunctions, it is to be replaced within an hour’.

“We have replaced the entire 2,000 EVMs to be used in Sikkim with a new set of machines. I assure that the EVMs are absolutely tamper- proof and randomization of the machines along with polling officers are also done. We are confident about our machines. Malfunction is below 0.5 per cent which is largely due to human error. We have emphasized on training of the polling officers”, said Chawla. ASSAM TRIBUNE