Commission to depute 10 special observers and double paramilitary presence for Saturday’s by-elections, following allegations of the state machinery’s ‘bias’.
New Delhi: The political temperature has risen sharply ahead of two assembly bypolls in Madhya Pradesh Saturday. The bypolls in Kolaras and Mungaoli constituencies have turned into a battle between Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, both of whom have thrown their might into the campaign.
And following a complaint by the Congress alleging bias in favour of the incumbent BJP by the state police and administrative machinery, the Election Commission of India has ordered the deployment of an additional ten special observers. It has also decided to double the presence of paramilitary troops – from five companies of the CRPF to ten – to ensure peaceful polling.
The observers chosen for this task are ten IAS and IPS officers from the 2013 and 2014 batches, who will be deployed in ‘sensitive’ areas in the two constituencies.
This will be over and above the two special observers already deputed in the constituencies – the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal and the Principal Secretary of the ECI.
The move comes within days of the Ashok Nagar District Collector being transferred out after the Congress complained about errors in the electoral list, and fresh complaints from the party alleging bias on the part of senior civil servants and police officers in the area. EC teams found 1,575 dead voters on the list for Mungaoli and over 10,000 such cases in Kolaras.
The ECI is also closely looking at the overall lapses by the state electoral office in the preparation of the electoral roll. The EC has decided to take “all steps” to rectify the electoral rolls ahead of the state assembly elections, due later this year.
The Congress has fielded Mahendra Singh Yadav in Kolaras and Brijendra Singh Yadav in Mungaoli, while the BJP has given tickets to Bhaisahab Yadav in Mungaoli and Devendra Jain in Kolaras.