Election Commission has zero-tolerance to money and muscle power: CEC Arora

With political partiesapprehending violence and unrest in poll-bound West Bengal,Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Friday said thecommission has zero-tolerance to money and muscle power andmisuse of the government machinery.

The CEC also said no civic police volunteers will bedeployed for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

''The commission has zero-tolerance to money and musclepower or misuse of government machinery,'' the CEC toldreporters here.

He said the EC's expenditure observer will take stepsto prevent misuse of money power.

The full bench of the ECI, which is currently in thestate to review preparedness for the assembly polls due inApril-May, held meetings with representatives of politicalparties, senior government officials and police officers.

Asked about incidents of violence ahead of theassembly elections in the state, Arora said, ''We would like toreview events of serious crimes which have political overtonesand examine them on a case-to-case basis.'' To a related question about the EC taking actionagainst those involved in incidents of hurling stones atpolitical meetings and processions, the CEC said, ''Thecommission can act only after the election dates areannounced. We will take a series of measures and not allowbike rallies after the model code of conduct comes intoforce.'' About the possibility of early deployment of centralsecurity personnel in the state ahead of the elections, Arorasaid, ''I don't know who gave you the idea that we are going todeploy forces two-three months before the polls. We will go byour standard operating procedure and deploy them as and whennecessary.

''We take into account all the issues. Forces will bedeployed in advance as per our final assessment.'' Claiming that West Bengal is witnessing politicalviolence in the run-up to the elections, opposition partieshave urged the full bench of the ECI to ensure that free andfair polls are held in the state.

The ruling Trinamool Congress alleged that the BSF isthreatening people in the border areas of the state to casttheir votes in favour of a particular political party.

The Border Security Force, however, denied the TMC'sallegation, saying that it was ''baseless'' and ''far from thetruth''.

Describing the allegation against the BSF as''unfortunate'', Arora said it is one of the finest forces inthe country.

He said the political party concerned should come upwith facts to support its allegation.

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh had said thatnames of Rohingya Muslims have been included in voters' listin the state and urged the ECI to facilitate scrutiny of it.

The EC has been requested to look into allegations ofirregularities in the process of updating the list, he said.

Asked about the BJP's demand to facilitate scrutiny ofthe voters' roll, the CEC said, ''We are giving you (media) thecomplete list. Now you check yourself. Not just in Bengal, ourofficers take a closer look at the list. If there is an issue,we take it up.'' Several parties voiced concerns over law and ordersituation in the state, while issues like fake news on socialmedia and provocative slogans with communal overtone have alsobeen flagged by them, the CEC said.

Asked about allegations that a large number ofelectors were not allowed to cast their votes in the 2018Panchayat polls, Arora said the State Election Commissionconducts the polls to the local bodies.

''The ECI will ensure that there is no irregularity andevery voter is allowed to cast vote in a free and fair mannerin the assembly polls. We know how to get it done,'' he said.

The ECI on Friday met Chief Secretary AlapanBandyopadhyay, Home Secretary HK Dwivedi, DGP Virendra andother senior officials, the CEC said.

Arora said the full bench of the ECI asked the chiefsecretary and home secretary to look into the issues of fakeinformation in the social media raised by political parties.

According to the CEC, the chief secretary and the homesecretary of the state said that they are following the EC'sguidelines in letter and spirit.

The ECI asked the senior officials and police officersof West Bengal to expedite the process of executing pendingnon-bailable warrants (NBWs), sources said.

Arora said there will be 1,01,790 polling stations forthe 2021 assembly elections in the state and every boothshould be made accessible to all persons with disabilities.

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