Haryana assembly elections 2019: All measures in place, says poll panel

CHANDIGARH: Chief election commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said on Thursday that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was committed to maintaining the purity of and to deliver free, fair and transparent elections. An effective mechanism has been set up to ensure smooth conduct of the electoral process, he added.

Accompanied by election commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, Arora was addressing a press conference here in connection with the preparedness of the ensuing assembly elections in Haryana .

He said, “It is first visit of the full commission in Haryana. During its two-day visit on Wednesday and Thursday, the commission has held a series of review meetings with the state chief electoral officer, officers of the police department, nodal officers and the representatives of various political parties.”

The CEC reviewed election arrangements with chief secretary Keshani Anand Arora, DGP Manoj Yadava, additional chief secretary for home Navraj Sandhu and other senior officials. The election commissioner also met nodal officers of income tax and excise and taxation departments and the statelevel bankers committee (SLBC) convener to review in detail the strategy to curb misuse of money, drugs, liquor and gifts distribution during the elections.

While referring to the meeting with the representatives of different political parties, Arora said political parties had requested deployment of adequate number of paramilitary forces, especially in those areas that had maximum number of people belonging to economical weaker section .

Arora said political parties had also requested that EC directions should be properly adhered to in the posting of officials related to the election process. He added that the parties had also raised the issue of ongoing development works at various places