Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed all political parties in the state to make public the reasons for selecting candidates with criminal antecedents, if any, rather than opting for clean candidates for the 2022 elections.
The ECI team headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra, who was in Goa to review the poll preparedness, has directed enforcement agencies to monitor all movements of liquor, drugs, cash, and freebies from today.
Addressing the media, ECI CEC Sushil Chandra said that apart from candidates declaring their criminal antecedent, the political parties will also have to declare on their official party websites detailing reasons for selecting candidates with the criminal antecedent.
“They will also have to give a reason for not selecting a clean candidate in that particular area (constituency); we have implemented this earlier, but this we will be strictly monitoring it,” said Chandra.
He further said that all the entry points and state and coast boundaries will be monitored.
“Banks have been instructed to give information about any suspicious cash transaction that takes place: Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on poll-preparedness meeting in Goa,” he added.
Chandra further said that 60 new polling stations will be added, taking the total tally of polling booths to 1722.
“All the updated electoral roll will be out on January 5,” he said.
ECI also claimed that they have introduced online filing of nominations and urged all political parties to take advantage of this method.
On Tuesday, the high-level panel of ECI comprising of Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey held one-to-one interaction with representatives of political parties- BJP, Congress, Goa Forward Party, MGP, Nationalist Congress party and TMC.
Emerging from the meeting, the political parties requested to consider Christmas and New Year celebrations before declaring the poll dates.
“Party has also recommended that the poll date should not coincide with public holidays or any festive days to ensure maximum participation,” parties said.
As per the ECI schedule, the term of the existing Goa government ends on March 15, 2022, and as such, the new government has to be sworn in before that.
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