CEC Sunil Arora, ECs to review Maharashtra assembly poll preparations

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora with two commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra will be on a two day visit to Mumbai on September 17 and 18. They will hold review of the assembly poll preparations with the state government. It is expected that EC may announce poll schedule on September 19 after the conclusion of Maha Janadesh Yatra of the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Two day visit comes after the Election Commission on Saturday held a marathon meeting of state government officials through video conference to discuss district wise arrangement being worked out for peaceful and incident free polling in Maharashtra.

EC focused on preparations in districts which had witnessed communal and caste based violence in the past. Further, EC deliberated on information with regard to poll related violence in all 36 districts and present status of communally sensitive booths and assembly segments. The visit is also significant as deputy election commissioner had held meeting with the chief electoral officer and other departments in the first week of September. Officer from the state chief electoral officer told DNA, "Already standard operating procedure has been put in place for seizure of illegal cash during the poll period. The Railways are expected to ensure timely transportation of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and security personnel. Additional 400 companies of security personnel will be deployed to guard EVM strong rooms.

The chief electoral officer and senior officials from various departments will make series of presentations to the visiting CEC and two ECs on poll preparations.'' He informed that all efforts will be made for free, fair and transparent election. State chief electoral officer Baldev Singh, who last week had held review with government department and security personnel, had said that the Election Commission's target is to achieve a 70% voting in the upcoming assembly election. He said the total number of voters in the state as of August 30 is 8.94 crore.