Kohima, February 7 (MTNews): Chief Electoral Officer, V. Shashank Shekhar informed that the Election Commission of India has appointed 3 Special Observers to the state for the ensuing General Election to the Legislative Assembly, Nagaland 2023.
The three special Observers are in the capacity of Special General Observer, Special Expenditure Observer and Special Police General Observer.
The Special Observers deployed to the state are: Special Expenditure Observer BR Balakrishna, IRS (Retd) (IRS:1983); Special General Observer Ajay V Nayak, IAS (Retd) (IAS:1984) and Special Police Observer Anil Kumar Sharma, IPS (Retd) (IPS:1984)
The Special Observers will be observing the poll preparedness in the state and the various arrangements for a free and fair poll.
The commission has already deployed 24 General Observers and 24 Expenditure Observers and 13 Police Observers for the entire 60 Assembly Constituencies in all the 16 districts, Nagaland. They will be conducting a detailed review of the election preparedness with the DEOs, ROs and other election officials in order to ensure smooth conduct of the 14th general election to Nagaland Legislative Assembly 2023, scheduled on the date February 27.
As per the Election Commission of India’s instruction, the CEO expects all officials engaged in the conduct of election to discharge their duties in an impartial manner without any fear or favor.
It has been informed to all officials that they are deemed to be on deputation to the commission and shall be subjected to its control, supervision and discipline. In the directions of ECI, the conduct of all government officials who have been entrusted with election related responsibilities and duties would remain under constant scrutiny of the commission and strict action shall be taken against those officials who are found wanting on any account.
The Observers have been asked to keep a close watch on every stage of the electoral process to ensure free and fair election. The commission deployed Observers depending upon the need, sensitivity and assessment of ground situation of the District, A/C, wherever required will be closely monitoring the election expenditure of the candidates during the Assembly Election. The total polling stations as of now is 2315.
The commission informed that the date for scrutiny of Nominations is on February 8, 2023(Wednesday) and the last day for the withdrawal of candidatures will be February 10, 2023 (Friday).
The CEO also reminded all DEOs to arrange for videography during scrutiny.