Rs 75 lakh is the limit for candidate's expenses
Kohima, May 14 (DIPR): The Commissioner & Returning Officer of Nagaland, Motsuthung Patton (IAS) along with ADC (HQ) & ARO, Limanenla held a meeting regarding the upcoming Lok Sabha bye-poll with General Observers, political parties and liaison officers on May 14 at the conference hall of the office of the Commissioner, Nagaland.
The Commissioner & RO reported that there are 12 Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) in the districts, including Pughoboto sub-division, for the bye-poll scheduled for May 28. Counting of votes will take place in all the AROs' offices on May 31. However, he said the final tabulation of result will take place at the Commissioner’s office, Nagaland after getting results from all the AROs.
He further briefed that Election Duty Certificate (EDC) will be issued instead of postal ballot for all government officials who have been detailed for election duty. He urged all the political parties and stakeholders to strictly comply with the Model Code of Conduct in order to maintain peace and tranquility in the State.
Informing that five observers have been deployed by the Central government to monitor the bye-poll so far, Patton expressed that more observers are expected to come to monitor all the different counting centres. He also informed that the Election Commission of India has authorized DC Kohima as the Nodal Officer for filing of election related expenses of all the candidates.
Meanwhile, General Observer Dr. J Ravishankar (IAS) urged all the political parties and stakeholders to maintain free and fair elections and to abide by the Commission's guidelines. He also requested the RO & AROs to take corrective measures in order to have a smooth and peaceful election.
Expenditure Observers Tsewang Tharchin and Michael Achom, while briefing on expenditures stated all political parties have to come with their expenditure statement. They informed that Rs 75 lakh is the maximum limit for a candidate to meet his election expenses and all expenses incurred by the candidates will be examined three times by the observers. Candidates should adhere with all the expenditure rates furnished by the government, they added.
For security related matters, Police Observer Girija Shankar Jaiswal has been deployed for the entire State.
