The Hindu
Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar interacting with
mediapersons at the Secretariat on Saturday. Photo G. Sribharath
Mr Praveen Kumar clarified that there was no bar on individuals holding events or functions but there should be no distribution of freebies to participants of such events.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Praveen Kumar on Saturday
warned government officials of “strong action” if the officials tried
to be “over friendly” to any political party or violated the model code
of conduct.
He made this observation while responding
to questions of reporters at a press conference at the Secretariat
regarding a function said to have been organised in Alandur — an
assembly constituency in which by-elections are to be held on April 24
along with Lok Sabha polls — on the occasion of International Women’s
Day.
Mr Praveen Kumar clarified that there was no bar
on individuals holding events or functions but there should be no
distribution of freebies to participants of such events. If a political
party had to conduct a function, it had to take permission from the
authorities concerned.
On the seizure of unaccounted
cash, he said that as per the status on Thursday, Rs. 37 lakh (approx.)
had been seized from individuals in the Nilgiris and Namakkal districts.
As
for the removal of hoardings carrying the images of political leaders
or masking of such images on government facilities or buildings, the CEO
said three days had been given to local officials to carry out the
task.
On the special enrolment camps to be conducted
throughout the state on Sunday, the CEO said eligible persons who wanted
to have their names included in the electoral roll should go to their
respective polling booths, with one photograph each and documents to
support their address of residence. If the applicants were aged less
than 25 years of age, they should also produce documents in support of
their age.
The camps would be held at all 60,418
designated polling booths across the State between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Electors could check whether their names had been included in the rolls.
For their convenience, the rolls would be pasted on the walls of the
booths, the CEO added.
