Election duties should be carried out impartially... P Praveenya, District Collector
District Collector P. Praveenya said that there should be a complete understanding of election duties. On Monday, a training program was organized at the Sangareddy Zilla Parishad conference hall for nodal officers, sub-collectors, RDOs, ZPTC ROs, MPTC ROs, cluster officers, DLPOs, MPDOs, Tahsildars, and MPOs on election management through power point presentations by master trainers.
District Collector P Pravinya spoke on the occasion -- The Collector advised that there should be a complete understanding of election duties, that local body elections should be conducted in a peaceful and efficient environment, and that returning officers should carry out election duties impartially.
He advised that all arrangements should be completed in advance for the conduct of MPTC and ZPTC elections. He advised that the rules and regulations should be fully understood, and that the election duties should be performed with utmost care and complete transparency, without any room for disputes or mistakes. He said that the returning officers will have to play an active role in the conduct of local body elections.
He said that following the announcement of the State Election Commission, the MPTC and ZPTC elections will be held in the second phase in the district. The Collector said that nominations for the MPTC elections will be accepted at the offices of the Mandal Parishad Development Officers of the respective mandals, while nominations for ZPTC members will be accepted at the Zilla Parishad office.
From the receipt of nominations to the announcement of the final list of candidates, the Election Returning Officers should work in accordance with the election rules. He said that the role of the Election Returning Officers is of great importance in conducting the elections in a peaceful atmosphere. He said that they should ensure that the election is conducted smoothly, including the process of receiving nominations from candidates, withdrawal, and allocation of symbols, as per the election rules set by the Election Commission.
The nominations should be accepted, scrutinized and withdrawn in accordance with the guidelines and the time limit should be strictly followed. It was suggested that the candidates who come to file nominations and their proposers should be confirmed based on the voter list whether they are locals. He said that only three people including the candidate should be allowed inside. The Collector suggested that more precautions should be taken when proposers come on behalf of the candidates, not the candidates, for the withdrawal of nominations, and that withdrawal should be allowed only after thoroughly examining each issue.
He said that candidates contesting in the elections should be given a separate bank account at the time of election nominations and all election expenses should be managed from this account. The election staff should collect the paid article news on the candidates contesting in the elections. The officials should educate the candidates contesting in the elections on the election rules and regulations and take steps to ensure that the candidates contest in the elections as per the rules, the Collector advised the returning officers, nodal officers and mandal level officers on this occasion.
He said that the names of the candidates will have to be printed sequentially on the ballot paper based on the Telugu alphabet. He said that if the candidates submit many sets of nominations, all the nomination applications must be examined, how many of them were accepted, how many were rejected, and what were the reasons for that. He suggested that a help desk be set up to provide assistance to the candidates so that they can submit the nominations in the correct manner as per the rules. The Collector ordered that a help desk be set up in the ZP CEO office to resolve the doubts of ROs and AROs. He advised that a mock nomination process should be conducted before issuing the notification, which would prevent any mistakes in the conduct of the elections.
He advised that a daily report should be sent promptly every day from the date of issuance of the notification and that the nomination papers of the candidates should be scanned and uploaded on the relevant website. He said that if video is shot during the last period of receipt of nominations and during the withdrawal period, they will be used as appropriate evidence. He said that if the nomination process is carried out properly in accordance with the rules, there is a chance that the polling and counting processes will be carried out smoothly. Keeping this in mind, the Collector directed the ROs and Assistant ROs to efficiently conduct the notification issuance, receipt of nominations, scrutiny and withdrawal processes. He advised that if there are any doubts regarding the conduct of the elections, they should contact the higher authorities without any hesitation and resolve them. He said that the local body election process should be completed smoothly by performing duties in accordance with the guidelines set by the State Election Commission without taking any personal decisions at any stage and that the election code of conduct should be strictly implemented, paying special attention to issues affecting voters.
All arrangements have been completed to conduct the elections in a peaceful atmosphere: Paritosh Pankaj, District SP
SP Paritosh Pankaj said that all necessary arrangements have been made under the auspices of the police department to ensure that the local body elections are held in a peaceful atmosphere. In addition to the establishment of strong security at the polling stations, the SP said that all necessary arrangements have been made for the movement of ballot boxes from the polling material distribution centers to the polling stations, the movement of ballot boxes to strong rooms after the elections, and security arrangements at the strong rooms. He said that steps have been taken to ensure that the local body elections are held in a peaceful atmosphere by deputing staff according to the route for the conduct of the elections.
Additional Collector Chandrashekhar, ZPCEO Janaki Reddy, Narayankhed Sub-Collector Uma Aarti, DPO Sai Baba, ROs, MPDOs, Tahsildars and other concerned officials participated in this program.