The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Polling staff trained on election procedures

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Polling staff trained on election procedures

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, APRIL 27. A training programme was organised at various centres in Coimbatore and Pollachi (Reserved) Lok Sabha constituencies for the purpose of training the polling staff on the election procedures.

The Collector and the Returning Officer for the Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency, N. Muruganandam, inaugurating a training programme at one of the centres in Coimbatore said that nearly 50 per cent of the male polling staff would be swapping their place of work (i.e., polling stations) with their counterparts from Erode and Dindigul districts.

Election duty was a must and compulsory for the employees from all the departments.

Women employees would be posted to the polling stations within the district, he added. As for as the Coimbatore constituency was concerned, a total of 15,035 polling staff would be involved in the election of which 3,455 would be presiding officers for the polling stations. The Returning officer and District Revenue Officer, M. Rahim, at Pollachi inaugurated a similar training programme for the polling staff.

The Election Commission of India has relaxed the norms for the wall paintings and graffiti's to be put up on the private premises and compound walls. The Collector, N. Muruganandam, in a release said that candidates could seek the permission to use the premises, walls and properties of the private parties by giving in a requisition in writing to the respective local bodies.

A district-level vigilance committee would scrutinise the requests and accord permission within the poll rules and norms.

Only after which, the candidates and political parties could avail the space even if it were to be a private premises. In rural areas, through village panchayat presidents, the permission of the Block Development Officer (BDO) had to be obtained.

Graffitis and hoardings without the permission of the officials would be removed while status quo would continue with regard to hoardings as per court orders. But all these hoardings would be included into the poll expenditure of the candidate concerned.

There would be no permission of any sort for using the public or government walls in Coimbatore, the Collector clarified.

If any wall painting or graffiti was found in such public places, it would be removed and the entire expenditure would be added on the candidate's account, besides initiating criminal proceedings, Mr. Muruganandam added.

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