POLL PANEL TEAM ON PUNJAB VISIT

Chandigarh: The Election Commission of India has taken stock of the ground situation in Punjab and has identified the challenges before it to conduct smooth Assembly polls. Chief Election Commissioner Dr Nasim Zaidi and two election commissioners A.K. Joti and O.P. Rawat along with six other officials were on a three day visit to the poll bound state during which they interacted with the political players, people’s representatives, concerned citizens and officials. “We want to conduct the elections in a totally neutral and unbiased manner,” Mr Zaidi has stressed. He pointed out that the ECI has been apprised of the local administration and police officials being under the influence of ‘Halqa In-charge,’ or constituency in-charge, from the ruling party. This institution has come to be identified as a notorious one as the Halqa In-charge call the shots right to the extent of transfers and postings. “We were requested that the system needs an over hauling and the posting of officials needs to be reviewed. It needs to be identified how many anti socials are operating in the system,” said Mr Zaidi.