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Rediff.com  » News » CEC Tandon reviews poll preparations in Bihar

CEC Tandon reviews poll preparations in Bihar

By Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna
August 24, 2005 16:29 IST
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Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon arrived in Patna on Wednesday to review the preparations being made for holding the Assembly elections in the state in October-November this year.

Official sources said Tandon and the other election commissioners, N Gopalaswami and Navin Chavla, started their review work immediately on reaching Patna.

"Without wasting any time, Tandon and his 2 colleagues were on job of taking stock of the situation in the state for holding polls," sources in the State Election Department said.

During its 2 day visit, the EC team would hold discussions with representatives of various political parties and the state`s civil and police officials.

They would also take stock of the progress made in preparing electoral photo identity cards (EPICS) and the execution of pending non-bailable warrants.

The team would also seek details on bogus voters in electoral lists and the recovery of illegal firearms, the sources said.

Earlier, a 9 member team of the commission, led by its advisor K J Rao, toured various districts to assess the preparations for the polls.Rao had spotted several irregularities in the voters lists.

Also read: EC asks for deletion of criminals' names from voters list

According to sources, of the 5.3 crore voters in the state, over 2 crore voters are yet to get the much publicised photo identity cards. The photo identity cards have been made mandatory for voting by the Election Commission this time. Rao had earlier directed the state administration to provide photo identity cards to all the voters by September 15.

However, going by the tardy work, there is little hope that all the voters would be provided cards.

Similarly, the commission's directive to execute non bailable warrants will be completed.

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Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna