EC sends notice to Telangana Minister over MCC violation

EC sends notice to Telangana Minister over MCC violation

Subject : Polity / Governance

Context : The Election Commission(EC) on Friday sent a notice to Telangana Energy Minister for violating the Model Code of Conduct by asking voters in the Munugode Assembly seat to support Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao if they wanted welfare schemes to continue.

Concept:

• According to the transcript of the speech, as provided by the District Election Officer and cited by the EC in its notice, Reddy said the contest was not between the candidates of the TRS and the BJP, but rather whether the schemes for pension and free electricity would continue.
• The EC said the speech had violated the MCC provision against the use of corrupt practices.

District Election Officer

• Section 26 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires the District Election Officer to appoint a Presiding Officer and as many Polling Officers as he deems necessary for each polling station within his jurisdiction.

The Representation of the People Act of 1950 includes the following election provisions:

• District Election Officer means the officer designated or nominated under Section 13AA of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
• Section 20A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 specifies the general duties of district election officer.
• Section 25 states that the district election officer, with the previous approval of the Election Commission, provides a sufficient number of polling stations for every constituency.
• Under Section 78, every contesting candidate at an election shall, within thirty days from the date of election of the returned candidate, lodge with the district election officer an account of his election expenses which shall be a true copy of the account kept by him or by his election agent under section 77.

Significance

• The Presiding Officers and Polling Officers are appointed by the District Election Officer.
• The District Election Officer coordinates and supervises all work in the district or in the area within his jurisdiction related to the preparation, revision, and correction of electoral rolls.
• He also looks after the conduct of all elections, including Lok Sabha, Legislative Assembly, and Legislative Council.

Supervisory Role

• Implementation of all Election Commission and Chief Electoral Officer directions/orders and instructions and distribution thereof to concerned election authorities including Returning Officers.
• Consolidation of information from Returning Officers regarding nominations and submission of reports to the Chief Electoral Officer in this regard.
• Meetings with political parties, candidates, government and local authorities, and law enforcement to ensure free and fair elections and the implementation of the model code of conduct.
• Transport and storage of EVMs and other election stationery.
• Keeping a record of election expenses and reporting to the Commission.
• Supervising the poll process on election day and reporting to the Commission on poll events on a regular basis.
• Supervising the counting of votes and reporting to the Commission as needed.
• Safe custody of EVMs, election papers, and materials after counting.

For further details about Model Code of Conduct, refer – https://optimizeias.com/model-code-of-conduct/