Bhopal. 29th August 2018. The Election Commission of India comprising Chief Election Commissioner Sh O P Rawat Election Commissioners Sh Sunil Arora and Sh Ashok Lavasa along with senior officers of the Commission, held in depth review meetings in Bhopal to assess poll preparedness of the State for the forthcoming Assembly Elections.
During the two day visit, the Commission met representatives of various political parties to understand their issues and concerns. The Commission reviewed work of Collectors/SPs, and discussed issues with Chief Secretary, DGP, Home Secretary and other senior Officials of the State. Commission also discussed strategy with various Enforcement agencies such as Income Tax dept, Excise, etc.
The Commission is committed to deliver free, fair and transparent elections. No voter to be left behind is the guiding principle for conducting the Elections.
The specific Issues discussed in the 2 day review are as follows:
Issues raised and suggestions made by the Political Parties:
Law and order
Political parties demanded to ensure the free and fair conduct of elections in the state, demanded the deployment of CAPF during election and adequate security should be provided to candidates. The Parties sought proper security arrangements at sensitive and vulnerable polling booths. Some parties demanded to prevent any attempt of campaigning based on religion and caste and those officials found to be affiliated with any socio-religious organisation be barred from election duty. Parties demanded to effectively check the distribution of liquor specially on day of polling and a day before polling before polling. Parties demanded deployment of CCTV in sensitive and vulnerable polling Booths. Some parties also demanded to install CCTV cameras outside polling booth.
MCC related:
Political parties demanded that transfer policy related to those officials, who are connected to electoral process, should be strictly implemented and Commissions instructions about those officials who have been removed from election duty based on complaints should not be allowed to be deployed again and also those who have been deployed with ministers should not be allowed to be associated with election process. Some Parties complained about misuse of government machinery for electoral gains and requested to take effective action to check this beyond MCC period also. Some political parties requested that instructions should be issued to close liquor shops during elections.
EVM issue
Some political parties raised issues related to EVM and VVPAT and counting of VVPAT slips and requested that more trust should be instilled amongst the electorate by increasing the number of polling stations for counting of slips. Some parties suggested that wherever winning margin is less than 1000, results be declared after slip count. Some parties wanted that additional time for polling should be provided in those polling stations where voting was delayed due to malfunctioning of EVM/VVPAT.
Expenditure Monitoring :
While some political parties demanded that expenditure limit of candidates be enhanced, some political parties demanded to check the expenditure by candidates effectively.
Electoral roll:
Some political parties appreciated the efforts of EC on Electoral Roll management while some others complained about existence of duplicate voters and demanded to undertake effective verification process. They also suggested that special camps should be organized in government colonies for cent percent enrolment of government employees. They demanded that distribution of Photo Voter slips should be streamlined so that it should reach to voters with in stipulated time. Most of the Political parties demanded that Voter Id card should be linked to Aadhar Card to avoid any possibilities of duplicate votes. Political parties demanded that all young citizens who completed 18 years of age beyond 1st January of the year may also be able to register as voter.
Other issues
Some Political Parties requested to implement Single window clearance system at RO level for permissions to candidates/Political Parties for holding public meetings etc. Political parties suggested that Print media should also be included under the provisions of last 48 hours restrictions as applicable on electronic media. Political parties requested to take effective action against Paid News and Fake News.
Election Schedule:
Some Political Parties also underlined celebrations of festivals like Dipawali (7 november), Amavasya and Iztema Tabligi during 23-26 November, 2018 in Bhopal to be kept in view while scheduling elections.
The Commission took note of the concerns and suggestions of the political parties and assured them that the Commission will put in place an effective mechanism to ensure smooth conduct of entire poll process in a free, fair, peaceful transparent and inclusive election. Commission also briefed the political parties about working of EVM and VVPATs and directed the CEO MP to carry out an extensive VVPAT awareness campaign in the state. The Commission directed the State Election Machinery to ensure effective planning and execution at all levels to address the concern of the political parties and instill confidence in the electorate to exercise their franchise. 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 intimidation or inducement. Officials have been advised to act impartially and any partisan action by any official will be taken seriously by Commission. The Commission will also deploy General Observers, Expenditure Observers, Police observers and Micro Observers for close monitoring of the Elections. EC will deploy Accessibility Observers for the first time.
Fact Sheet:
1. Assembly Constituencies
Assembly Segments / Constituencies
Total
General
SC
ST
230
148
35
47
ELECTORAL ROLLS: Electors as per draft ER (31 July 2018)
Total
Male
Female
Third Gender
Service voters
2018
4.94
Crore
2.59 Crore
(52.49 %)
2.34 Crore
(47.51 %)
1286
( 0.0026 %)
57,510
2014 LS
4.81
Crore
2.53 Crore
(52.59 %)
2.28 Crore
(47.40 %)
1072
(0.0022 %)
26,241
2013 AE
4.66
Crore
2.45 Crore
(52.57 %)
2.20 Crore
(47.21 %)
970
(0.0020 %)
22,735
The CEO MP informed that as per the draft electoral rolls published on 31 July 2018 there are 4.94 Crore electors in the state with 2.59 Crore male and 2.34 Crore female electors. Currently, the Second Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls with reference to 01-01-2018 as the qualifying date is in progress in the State and the final publication of the electoral rolls will be done on the 27 Sep 2018. A total of 6.16 lakh applications (2.59 lakh Form 6, 1.63 lakh Form 7) are received and action is being done to verify and dispose these applications. The draft electoral rolls were published on 31 July 2018. Copies of the rolls have been supplied to all political parties and are also made available on the CEO website. Currently, the percentage of photo coverage in the electoral roll is 100% and EPIC coverage is 100 %. Efforts are being made for maximization of Photo Electoral Roll coverage. The Commission directed to ensure that Postal ballot system be streamlined. ETPBS will be used for service voter.
POLLING STATIONS:
Presently there are a total of 65340 Polling Stations at 62912 polling locations all through Madhya Pradesh. Status of Assured Minimum Facilities of these Polling Stations is as follows:
Present Status of Compliance of AMF facilities in the State:
Ramp
94.32 %
Drinking water
96.93%
Toilets
95.61%
Electricity
75.89%
Waiting Room/Shade
72.66%
The State Government has been directed to complete the AMF facilities at the earliest specially to facilitate all the Voters including PwD voters.
EVM and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT):
First time in Madhya Pradesh, EVM with VVPATs will be used in all the 65340 polling stations of 230 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. Commission has directed the DEOs to take the leadership in organizing Awareness programmes on the use of EVM with VVPAT. CEO, MP has informed that awareness campaign is going on and will continue.
LAW AND ORDER: SECURITY MANAGEMENT
State administration and police have been asked to take steps to tone up the security and law and order and take preventive steps such as surprise inspection of jails, execution of NBWs, binding over trouble mongers etc. General and police observers will be deployed after the announcement of Election in the state to monitor all activities and advise the administration to take suitable action. The contact numbers of these observers will be made available to public. The CAPF will be used for Confidence Building Measures (CBMs). The CAPF vehicles will have proper signage and public address system. The Commission has directed the State government to make arrangements for providing cashless treatment facility to all polling staff, CAPF and police force deployed for election duty. The Commission has also directed for making provision for Air Ambulances for quick evacuation in case of any exigencies. All the police check posts across the state will be under webcasting/ CCTV/videography 24×7 for the entire period during the Election. All licensed arms in the state shall be verified and deposited except those exempted by the District-level Committee.
EXPENDITURE MONITORING
Commission reviewed with enforcement agencies to curb misuse of money/drugs/liquor & gifts distribution. All DEOs will Constitute Election Expenditure Monitoring Teams as per ECI Instructions. Adequate number of Expenditure observers (including expenditure sensitive constituencies) will be deployed by ECI for effective expenditure monitoring. Income Tax officials will also be deployed for expenditure monitoring. 690 Flying Squads (@ 3 per Assembly Constituency) and 690 Static Surveillance Teams will be operationalized to check movement of cash liquor, drugs and other free bees in sensitive pockets and in border areas. The vehicles used by flying squads will be fitted with GPS to track their movement and prompt action. Movement of money through banking channels will be monitored and fool-proof arrangements would be made to monitor suspicious banking transactions. Air intelligence Units of IT authorities would be set up at major 3 Airports. Commission directed affidavits of the candidates be uploaded on website within 24 hours. Commission directed the excise department to gear up and create stringent mechanism to prevent liquor distribution. All mobile squads of Commercial Tax department will work to monitor any attempt of distribution of freebees.
MCMC AND PAID NEWS
The Commission has noted that MCMC (Media Certification and Monitoring Committee) committees have been constituted in every district and at state capital. A comprehensive press note will be issued immediately after the announcement of the election on media related issues, which will also contain PCI and NBA guidelines related to Paid news and media is expected to follow these guidelines.
7 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 election processes and redressal of public grievances.
New IT Applications to Be Used for Forthcoming Assembly General Elections in MP:
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.
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.
cVIGIL:
The new cVIGIL will allow anyone in the election-bound state to report violations of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) that comes into effect from the date of announcement of elections and goes on till a day after the polls. By using this app, citizens can immediately report on incidents of misconduct within minutes of having witnessed them and without having to rush to the office of the returning officer to lodge a complaint. The vigilant citizen has to click a picture or record a video of upto two minutes duration of the scene of violations of the model code. The photo or video is to be uploaded on the app. The automated location mapping will be done by the app using the Geographic Information System. After its successful submission through the app, the vigilant citizen gets a Unique ID to track and receive the follow up updates on her or his mobile. The identity of the complainant will be kept confidential.
(E) EMSIE App
Commission has launched Election Monitoring System App EMSIE (Election Monitoring System for incredible Elections) during the poll-preparedness review meeting in Bhopal. App EMSIE provides easy platform to all DEOs to assess progress on election related activities & rectify delays.
(F) ELECTION- ATLAS:
e-Atlas (GIS-Maps) has been prepared for 60-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.
(G) Webcasting:
To ensure free and fair elections, web-casting will be done in almost 6600 PS and videography by fixed cameras in the rest.
ACCESSIBLE ELECTIONS:
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 all polling premises will be provided with sturdy Ramps (temporary or permanent) for barrier free access. Field officers have been instructed to collect information during the door to door visit of Special Summary revision 2018. A data base of PwD voters is being created and such electors would be enrolled and mapped with PS and the list of shall be provided to the BLOs for providing special assistance. Special facilities to PwD voters like wheel chair to the extent possible, waiting area, queue assistance, ramps, escort are to be provided. Braille ballot paper for easy readability by the visually impaired voters would be provided.
Voter Facilitation
The Commission has directed that all the necessary arrangements for facilitation and convenience of voters at the polling stations shall be made to ensure a smooth and comfortable voting experience. All Polling Stations will have Voter Facilitation Booth to facilitate the voters outside every polling booth in the state. Revised Photo Voter slips with the location of the Polling Station, Voter Guide will be provided to the electors. Voter Facilitation Posters will be displayed outside each Polling station. In order to ensure secrecy of voting, height of voting compartment has been increased from 24 inches to 30 inches.
All Women Managed Polling Stations- For the first time in Madhya Pradesh, the Commission has decided to set up at least one All Women Managed Polling Station in all Assembly constituencies of the State.
SVEEP:
The Commission has directed to organize a participative, inclusive and people friendly SVEEP campaign through all modes of communication for ensuring ethical and informed voting. The commission has laid special emphasis on creating awareness about VVPAT among electors and enhancement of voter facilitation measures to fullest extent. District Election Officers have been directed to make special efforts for increasing voters participation with special focus on persons with disabilities, weaker section and areas of low voter turnout.
