ECI appreciates Special Observers for helping it conduct fair, inducement-free elections

Welcoming the newly-appointed special observers for the forthcoming general elections to the legislative assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal 2021, the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday appreciated them for playing a very important role in the past elections and helping ECI fulfil the constitutional mandate of conducting free, fair, transparent, impartial and inducement-free elections.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday held a briefing meeting with the newly-appointed special observers associated for the forthcoming general elections.

The meeting was held in Nirvachan Sadan in the newly refurbished Sukumar Sen Hall dedicated to the memory of first Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen.

Arora emphasised on greater coordination amidst all enforcement agencies functioning on the ground. He further added that the special observers will have an additional role in supervising the deployment of forces and their randomisation for poll duties.

Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra drew their attention to the Commission's recent order with respect to webcasting of all vulnerable booths and emphasised making elections totally inducement-free.

Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that the Commission is very happy to have associated with all upright and efficient senior officers in order to conduct elections in a free, fair, transparent and safe manner.

According to a statement released by the ECI, the special observers, who worked during the previous elections, apprised the Commission of issues and challenges, based on their past experiences.

Sudarsanam Srinivasan, IAS (Retd.); Ashok Kumar, IPS (Retd.) and Neena Nigam, IRS (Retd.) will be the observers for the state of Assam, said the ECI.

According to the ECI, Ajay Nayak, IAS (Retd.), Vivek Dubey, IPS (Retd.), B. Murali Kumar, IRS (Retd.) will be the observers for West Bengal.

Deepak Mishra, IPS (Retd.), Pushpinder Singh Puniha, IRS (Retd.) have been appointed as observers for Kerala.

Alok Chaturvedi, IAS (Retd.) has been appointed as observer for the state of Tamil Nadu and Manjeet Singh, IAS (Retd) for the union territory of Puducherry.

Dharmendra Kumar, IPS (Retd.), Madhu Mahajan, IRS (Retd.) and B R Balakrishnan, IRS (Retd.) will be the observers for both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, informed the ECI.

All the Special Observers appointed, hold an impeccable and brilliant track record of work in their career, said the ECI in a statement released on Thursday.

The Special Observers will be visiting their assigned States/UTs and superintend and monitor poll preparedness being done by state and district level officials and they will also have series of meetings with the General, Police and Expenditure observers deployed in the field, it said.

( With inputs from ANI )