EC takes cognisance of officials close to ruling party

Lucknow, Mar 1 (UNI) Election Commission today said it was reviewing the charges made against some senior officials in Uttar Pradesh for their alleged 'proximity' to the ruling party and announced deployment of central forces in each polling booth during the seven phase assembly poll in April-May.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami, along with two election commissioners Navin B Chawla and Dr S Y Quereshi, wrapping up their two day visit to the UP capital, said the EC was committed to holding free and fair poll at any cost.

''We have received complaints about alleged closeness of some officials with political parties, but any action would be taken only after going into each and every case,'' Mr Gopalaswami added.

''We are not in a hurry and do not want injustice to anyone,'' he remarked.

Refusing to give details about the number of companies of central forces for the UP poll, the CEC said we can only assure that each and every polling booth would be manned by central forces. ''You do not have to see the micro aspect in the issue,'' he commented.

Announcing that the EC has fixed a target of 90 per cent for the first phase and 95 per cent for rest of the six phases for Election Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) distribution in the state, Mr Gopalaswami said the EC has no plans at the moment to give any relaxation for the use of any alternative other than EPIC.

He said the Commission has given a target to all the district authorities to complete the EPICs before the poll and they have to report directly to the EC about their performance regularly.

To a specific question if the poll announcement was done in haste, the CEC said the Commission was committed to holding the poll before May 14 and had acted accordingly.

Maintaining that no serious violation of model code of conduct has been derected so far in UP, he said the EC was closely watching the activities of all political parties, besides "media reports are very helpful to us to implement the code of conduct".

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