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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, January 23: Armed with new statutory powers, some 1800 election observers will for the first time be empowered to stop the counting or declaration of poll results in their respective constituencies if they are dissatisfied with the conduct of the poll.
In a significant departure from earlier polls where observers could merely send in their complaints to the Chief Electoral Officers of the state, this time round the observers have been instructed to call a halt to the counting if they have any doubts about the conduct of the poll.
The observers, who have undergone intensive discussions with the Election Commission officials here this week, have been made aware of their rights and their statutory powers following the amendment of the Representation of the People Act in August 1996.
Three observers have been assigned to each constituency, of whom two will be general observers and the third, the expenditure observer to keep tabs on what candidates are spending.
The observers are expected to travel through their constituency and to keep the CEOs posted on the situation in their respective areas.
Invested with these statutory powers to recommend halt of counting at any point, the observers would be provided with separate communication facilities by the Election Commission. Deputy Election Commissioner Subas Pani said observers will have to be present till the completion of the counting and the declaration of results.
The Commission also announced a simplified methodology for maintenance of accounts by candidates. Each candidate would be required to maintain their daily election expenditure account in the prescribed register, but would have to submit it to the election expenditure observer for inspection along with supporting documents once in three days.
No quot;dovequot; lost between Laloo and EC
Former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has been ordered to stop using pigeons for his election campaign.
Describing the Rashtriya Janata Dal8217;s practice of tying their party symbol, the lantern, around the necks of pigeons as quot;cruelquot;, the Election Commission has directed the Bihar Chief Secretary B S Verma to stop party workers from doing so. Ever since photographs appeared in some newspapers of pigeons with lanterns tied around their necks being released in the air as a campaign gimmick, the EC has been besieged with protests and appeals from animal rights groups to put an end to the practice.
Reiterating the ban on the use of animals in the poll campaign, the Commission said that as in earlier elections rules regarding use of animals, especially birds and small animals, were clearly laid out. In its letter to Verma the Commission said it would take a quot;hard stancequot; if any party violated this rule. Without naming the RJD, the EC in its letter, said if the information about the use of pigeons is quot;factually correctquot;, the Chief Secretary should intervene and put a stop to the practice immediately.
