CEO warns electronic media against lopsided coverage

Panaji, May 8 (UNI) Chief Electoral Officer of Goa Ramesh Negi today warned the electronic media against the lopsided coverage of political parties or candidates in the June 2 elections to the state Legislative Assembly.

Under the provisions of the Cable Act, he said the registered cable operators should be non-partisan in poll coverage. The case of non-registered operators would also be examined.

Briefing mediapersons on the sidelines of Governor issuing notification for the elections, Mr Negi said the advertisements to be released by the political parties or candidates or others should be approved by the authorities.

A special observer from Kerala was looking into complaints of mass deletion of voters' names as alleged by certain political parties.

The village officers on the other hand had removed as many as 12,000 people from the voters' list of candidates, found missing from the houses.

The missing list of voters would be handed over to the observers so that bogus voting is eliminated like in the recent polls in Uttar Pradesh, Negi said.

The police have yet to identify the sensitive and hypersensitive booths on the basis of vulnerability and sensitivity aspects derived on information with booths that registered more than 90 per cent and 85 per cent voting in the last elections.

This could be done only when the campaign begins after completion of the nomination process, Mr Negi said.

Carrying of a bunch of EPIC belonging to different voters by any individual or groups constitutes an offence and they would be sternly dealt with if brought to the notice of the authorities, he added.

UNI