Finally, clearing the air of uncertainty, Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that Assembly election in Nagaland would be held as per schedule in 2018 and as per rules and mandate given to ECI for conducting polls. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Achal Kumar Jyoti informed this to media during a press conference at Hotel Japfu here on Tuesday morning.
Jyoti declared that the polls would be held in March 2018.
Earlier on Monday, the ECI team also comprising of Election commissioners– Om Prakash Rawat and Sunil Arora, deputy Election Commissioner, Sudeep Jain and Director General, Dhirendra Ojha, along with the State election officials, met representatives of various political parties registered under ECI.
During their two-day visit to the State, ECI officials also reviewed work of Deputy Commissioners Superintendents of Police, besides holding meetings with Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Home Secretary and other senior State government officials.
Commenting on the current crisis within NPF, Jyoti said leaders of both “factions” had met the ECI team and that a final decision would be taken on the mater after hearing both the groups and as per the legal procedure.
To a query whether Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party representatives also met the ECI team, Jyoti replied in the negative, adding that only leaders of political parties who were issued invitation met them.
Meanwhile, the CEC said that, unlike in previous years, ECI would webcast the election process in sensitive polling stations and that action would be initiated against anyone found manipulating or indulging in any form of malpractice during the polling exercise.
With ECI successfully holding elections in Himachal Pradesh and Goa, Jyoti also informed the media that electronic voting machines (EVMs) along with voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPATs) would be used in all 2,194 polling stations across 60 Assembly constituencies in Nagaland.
He said VVPATs would enable a voter to see on paper slip name and symbol of the candidate in whose favour he or she had cast his or her ballot. He said the issue was also raised by the political party representatives that met him.
The CEC asked the State’s Chief Election Officer (CEO) to organise awareness campaigns in this regard.
Jyoti said the representatives of political parties also urged the visiting ECI team to make election observers deputed by the Commission more proactive and take suitable action on complaints lodged with them. He said the political parties also stressed that the observers should able to speak English so that they could converse with people and understand their issue.
The CEC said the political parties insisted that electorate should be made aware about the steps they should take in case a candidate files a false affidavit.
On the prevailing law and order situation in Nagaland, the CEC stated that political parties demanded that movement of armed cadres should be curbed as sometimes they took sides and tried to intimidate voters and supporters of rival candidates.
Suggesting that intimidations of political agents in polling station be checked, he said the political parties also demanded that re-poll should be considered by ECI in case of any intimidation.
Jyoti further said the political parties urged ECI to control booth capturing and proxy voting effectively.
“They requested us to provide proper training to election officials and direct them to take strict and impartial action in case of any polling offence, failing which strict action must be taken against the erring official,” he added.
The parties also demanded that flow of money be checked effectively, besides extravagant expenditure indulged in by some groups, he added.
On electoral rolls, Jyoti said most party representatives expressed their satisfaction, while some demanded that voter slips should not be issued and instead only electoral photo identity card (EPIC) be used for voting.
The CEC said all suggestions and issues raised by the political parties were taken note of and assured that ECI would put into place all steps to ensure that the election was conducted smoothly and in a “free, fair, peaceful and transparent manner”.