Cooperate with admin to ensure free, fair, peaceful elections: DEO Srinagar to political parties

Srinagar, Mar 22: The District Election Officer (DEO) Srinagar, Dr Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat today urged the political parties to cooperate with the district administration to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in Srinagar district.

According to an official press release, he was addressing a meeting with the representatives of different political parties here. The DEO discussed various guidelines set by the Election Commission of India for smooth and transparent conduct of the electoral process for forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

At the outset, the DEO Srinagar briefed the participants about the enforcement of the Model Code of conduct, Media Certification and Monitoring Committee(MCMC) and Expenditure Monitoring mechanism. He underscored the importance of various activities to be taken by political parties during the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections-2024 as per the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

“ It is important to strictly adhere to different ECI guidelines including Model Code of Conduct, Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) and Expenditure Monitoring mechanism by the contesting political parties to uphold democratic values during the election process,” he said.

During the meeting, the Deputy Commissioner Sales Taxes Department, Ilyas Ahmad, who is designated Nodal Officer for Model Code of Conduct (MCC), informed the participants about the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which has been put into place.

Highlighting the Do’s and Dont’s of the MCC, he urged them to follow the rules and strict adherence to ethical campaigning practices as per laid guidelines of ECI under Model Code of Conduct.

Similarly, Deputy Director Information, Ahsan-ul Haq Chisti, who is designated Nodal Officer, Media Certification and Monitoring Committee(MCMC) spoke about various aspects of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC).

He stressed the political party representatives to obtain pre- certification of their Political Advertisements before being telecast/ broadcast on TV and Cable networks/ Cable channels, Advertisements to be displayed in the Cinema halls, Radio including FM channels, audio visual displays in public places, Advertisements in Newspapers, use of bulk SMS/recorded voice messages and Advertisements on Social media and Internet websites.

He informed the representatives of political parties that a dedicated MCMC Office has been set up at DEO Srinagar office for facilitation of stakeholders. Besides, the Political parties can approach MCMC through email mcmcsgr@gmail.com.

The District Treasury Officer, Javaid Maqbool Khanday, who is designated Nodal Officer for Election Expenditure Monitoring, underlined the significance of the financial transparency in Election campaigns.

He urged the political parties that utmost care should be exercised during election expenditure and must be incurred as per ECI norms/ guidelines/ instructions. He also urged the political party representatives to meticulously maintain the accounts and submit daily expenditure reports to the Expenditure observer.