Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh may well have savoured his ‘‘victories’’ over the Election Commission (EC), most notably over the formation of three districts despite an EC directive to the contrary, but it is now time for the Commission to get some of its own back. Directions received here by the state electoral office, after the code of conduct has come into place, clearly indicate that as far as these polls are concerned the EC will proceed as if the new districts do not exist.According to the directions, responsibilities of the District Electoral Officer (DEO) and the Returning Officer (RO) for each new district will be assigned to officials from the corresponding original district. The Collector of the original district will remain DEO for the new district, while the RO will be a senior officer, either the collector or an additional collector, from the original district.In simpler terms, these directions state that for the purpose of conducting these elections, the Collector and the SP of each new district will report to the Collector of the original district. This ensures what the EC had in effect asked the state to do on August 11, that is ‘‘defer the proposed reorganisation of the districts.after the forthcoming elections are over’’.The battle between the EC and Digvijay owes its origins to complaints over the revision of electoral rolls. Soon after, the matter of the formation of the new districts cropped up. When its directive did not have the intended effect, the Commission again wrote to the state government: ‘‘The Commission will still reiterate that possible ways may be found to defer formation and operationalisation of the districts after polls.’’ Digvijay, however, went ahead with the proposed new districts on August 15.
