PANJIM: The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has asked North Goa District Electoral Officer (DEO) to ensure level playing field for candidates or political parties. In a letter written to the North Goa DEO, Sapna Naik Bandodkar, Assistant Chief Electoral Officer has asked the DEO to take action at her level on a complaint filed by a person against violation of code of conduct.
The DEO has been asked to take the appropriate action and submit an action taken report to the office of the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) by 5 pm on April 18, 2024.
The instruction has been issued on a complaint lodged by one Mahesh Giri Khanolkar who has written to the Chief Electoral Officer, Goa, Ramesh Verma, requesting him to provide a level playing field in elections.
In his complaint, Khanolkar has alleged that the District Election Officers of North and South Goa are showing no attempt to maintain a level playing field in the elections. ”The entire election machinery seems to be giving preference to the BJP and seems scared, controlled and terrorised by the BJP government which is in power in Goa, despite having the protection of Model Code of Conduct (MCC),” he said.
He has pointed out that while the Congress announced candidates on April 6, 2024, incumbent North Goa MP Shripad Naik had already commenced campaigning even before the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force.
“As per my knowledge, every meeting requires permission of a competent RO or ARO. But my personal experience indicates that whenever we file a complaint to the flying squad or RO or ARO about late meetings held in the residence of BJP workers, the authorities do not even visit the site. Now a strange claim is made by flying squads of North Goa that meetings of political campaigns held in private residences and closed venues do not require permission by the authorities,” he said and sought immediate action from the CEO.
