Puducherry, March 15 Puducherry CEO P Jawahar on Sunday appealed to all political parties in the union territory to abide by the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), which has come into immediate effect, following the announcement of dates for the Assembly elections.
The elections for the 30 Assembly constituencies in the union territory will be held on April 9.
The gazette notification for the elections will be issued on Monday, Jawahar told reporters here.
He said that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will apply to all political parties, candidates contesting the election, and government officials.
Jawahar appealed to political parties to abide by the MCC and "extend their cooperation for conducting free, fair, and peaceful elections. The elections should be free from hostility, acrimony, and should not give rise to bitterness."
He said that government employees have been warned not to participate in any political activity.
"Any complaint against any government employee will be dealt with sternly. Besides taking disciplinary action under Service Rules against those government servants participating in political activities, criminal action will also be taken," the Chief Electoral Officer said.
Jawahar said that Puducherry registered 82 per cent polling in the last Assembly election. "Our aspiration is that this time Puducherry should cross 90 per cent polling."
There are 9.44 lakh voters in the union territory, according to the final voter list published on February 14, which includes 30 Assembly constituencies spread across Puducherry (23 segments), Karaikal (five), Mahe, and Yanam (each with one segment).
Women staff will exclusively manage the 30 polling booths. Five polling booths (three in Puducherry and two in Karaikal) will be manned by young government staff, Jawahar said.
He said that three polling booths (two in Puducherry and one in Karaikal) will be manned by government staff who are "persons with disabilities," and this is part of efforts to encourage them.
Jawahar said that the election department has sought sufficient strength from the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) for election duty. Ten companies of CAPF have been deployed so far, and another 45 companies will soon arrive in Puducherry.
The CEO said that the police have tentatively identified 321 areas in the union territory as vulnerable, and these areas will be constantly monitored by periodically reviewing the ground-level situation.
He said that with Puducherry "being an expenditure-sensitive area from an election point of view," flying squads, static surveillance teams, video surveillance teams, and mobile surveillance teams will be deployed immediately.
State-level and district-level media certification and monitoring committees have been set up and have already started working on pre-certification of political advertisements and preventing paid news.
Jawahar said, "This year, through targeted SWEEP activities, we aim to create a festive atmosphere around the electoral process, where people can enjoy and actively participate in the voting journey."
District Election Officer A Kulothungan was also present at the press meet.