Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls scheduled by October 21, in exercise of the powers conferred on it under the constitution, the ECI moved up appointing two ex-Indian Revenue Service officers, Madhu Mahajan and B Murali Kumar as special expenditure observers to the state legislative sssembly.
“Mahajan would be required to watch the conduct of elections with special emphasis on controlling the abuse of money power, in consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer at Mumbai”, the statement read. “While, Murali Kumar similarly is slated to be based at Pune to look into matters in rest of the state with officers and election authorities as deemed necessary”, it added.
The special observers are to supervise and monitor the work being done by the electoral machinery and ensure that stringent, effective enforcement action is undertaken based on intelligence inputs. These observers also see that the complaints received through C-VIGIL, Voter Helpline 1950 against all persons and entities trying to induce voters by distributing cash, liquor, freebies and more, to vitiate the poll process.
Mahajan, earlier was also appointed special expenditure observer for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in recent Lok Sabha elections, while Kumar was SEO for 8 Vellore Parliamentary Constituency during Lok Sabha elections and had served as DGIT, Chennai earlier.
WhatsApp us