By IANS
Agartala : The Election Commission has decided for the first time to appoint ‘micro observers’ in addition to general observers to oversee the poll process in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, officials said Tuesday.
Tripura will go to assembly polls Feb 23, followed by Meghalaya March 3 and Nagaland March 5. The counting of votes will be held for Tripura and Meghalaya March 7 and for Nagaland March 8.
“At least 500 ‘micro observers’ would be appointed for each state and they would be chosen by the general observers,” said G.S.G. Ayyangar, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Tripura.
He said only the central government employees and officers posted in these three states would be appointed as ‘micro observers’, and they would assist the general observers both during polling and counting.
Ayyangar said the Election Commission had appointed more than double the number of general observers, expenditure observers as well as returning and assistant returning officers compared to previous assembly polls.
During his recent visit to Tripura, Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswamy has announced that a ‘model poll’ would be conducted in the northeastern states.
Unlike in previous elections, one general overseer would be appointed for each assembly segment.
Gopalaswamy and Election Commissioners Navin B. Chawla and S.Y. Querishi briefed all the 60 election observers appointed for Tripura Monday in New Delhi.
“The observers were directed to reach the allotted constituencies at least a day before the last day of filing of nominations and stay there until the end of polling day to ensure immediate redressal of complaints from various political parties or candidates,” an official said.
The observers would supervise the entire election process, preparation of electronic voting machines, the training of polling personnel, conduct of voter awareness programmes and deployment of forces in the constituency.
The terms of the three assemblies, each of which has 60 seats, expire in March. Nagaland was placed under President’s Rule early this month.