Political parties asked to use Suvidha portal to obtain permissions

Eluru: District Election Officer and district collector V Prasanna Venkatesh visited the Media Certification and Monitoring Cell established at the Collectorate on Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion, collector requested the contesting candidates and political parties to use the Suvidha portal to get prior permission for the meetings, rallies, processions, door-to-door campaigns, distribution of pamphlets etc,. organised by them in the context of the implementation of the code of conduct for elections in the state.

He said that if the representatives of political parties want to take up election campaign activities, they should get prior permission from the Election Commission.

He said that the request for permission regarding the conduct of election campaigns should be applied to the concerned Returning Officer through the Suvidha app 48 hours in advance. Permissions are granted within 24 hours of application. Election Commission has designed a convenient portal for filing online nominations, affidavits and online application for grant of advance permissions. Till Tuesday morning, 319 applications for permits were received through Suvidha in the district, of which 141 applications were granted, and 87 were kept pending due to various reasons, while 91 were rejected.

According to the election code of conduct, 36,146 wall posters, wall paintings, banners etc., have been removed so far. The concerned registered political parties should apply at least three days before the date they want to broadcast political advertisements in the electronic media, and then the committee will take a decision on it within two days. Electronic media should follow EC rules on political advertisements, he said.

He enquired about the details of the applications received for pre-approval from the Media Certification-Monitoring Committee (MCMC). District MCMC will have to give approval for the advertisements to be broadcast at the district level. Political announcements in the media should be armed with MCMC scrutiny.

A sum of Rs 9.72 lakh was seized so far in the district through Flying Squads and Rs 4.92 lakh in cash has been seized by police teams. He said that FIR has been registered in 117 cases related to violation of election code of conduct so far.