TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Election Commission has cautioned government servants against showing any favour towards any party or any candidate. They have been forbidden from taking part in any election campaign or canvassing and should take care not to lend their names, official position or authority to assist one individual against another or one group as against another as mentioned in Sections 129 and 134 of Representation of People Act, 1951.
Regarding ministers’ tours, the EC has said that while government officers should make all the usual arrangements to enable the ministers to carry out their responsibilities, they should not organize any election meeting or be present during any such meetings except those who may have to be present to maintain law and order and making necessary security arrangements.
The question as to whether a public meeting addressed by a minister is officially sponsored or is held for election propaganda has to be decided by the minister himself. In the meeting, the arrangement for organizing it is to be made on the minister’s behalf unofficially and the expenditure in that connection is to be borne by him or his party.
“It is also made clear that a public meeting held on the eve of an election is normally to be considered to be an election meeting and the expenses thereof are not to be borne from public funds,” says the communiqué.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs communiqué dated 10th October, 1949, in the matter of election meetings in a public place, the government officers should not make any distinction between one political party and another in granting permission to hold such meetings.
