General elections: Poll panel reviews UP preparations

The Election Commission said Monday it would keep an eye on issues like paid news, distribution of money, doles and liquor in the run-up to the Lok Sabha (LS) polls later this year.

Interacting with reporters on the second and final day of his visit to the state capital, deputy election commissioner and UP in-charge Vinod Zutshi said after the final list of voters is published Jan 31, returning officials cannot delete any name.

"In case any name is found to be fake, the assistant returning official would have to seek permission of the district election official and once the election schedule is announced, even the district magistrate (DM) will have to seek the EC's permission to do so," he added.

This step, he informed was done after several complaints reaching the poll panel that names of voters were suddenly deleted from the list.

He also held wide-ranging meetings with the district and state officials, including senior police and home officials wherein it was sought to understand which polling stations and districts could be sensitive while polling is on, an official told IANS.

Zutshi also pointed out all DMs have been asked to finalise the voter list by Jan 31. The official also directed the state government to transfer all officials in districts, posted in the same place for the past three years or in home districts.

The UP election officials have also been asked to send all guidelines, dos and don'ts to political parties by the end of January and hold district level symposiums to clear any confusions or queries.

Uttar Pradesh has 80 LS seats and all prominent national leaders, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Rajnath Singh, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, would contest from the state.

This time speculation is rife BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi might contest from the state as well.