Effective enforcement of provisions of MCC in J&K
Committed to ensure level playing field for all contestants during MCC-restricted period: CEO
In Mission Mode, 28,636 defacements removed within 72 hours across J&K
Command and Control Centre established at CEO office at Jammu and Srinagar to check MCC violations
JAMMU, AUGUST 21: The J&K Election Department has removed more than 28 thousand defacements across the Jammu and Kashmir within 72 hours after the announcement of J&K Assembly Election 2024.
With the announcement of Assembly Election in Jammu and Kashmir on 16 August 2024 by Election Commission of India (ECI), the Commission had issued directions for the effective enforcement of provisions of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in J&K Union Territory.
Taking the ECI directives regarding the implementation of MCC after the announcement elections into the consideration, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Jammu & Kashmir, P K Pole directed the enforcement wing of the department to remove all the wall-writing, posters, banners or defacement in any other form on the Government properties and others in no time.
Acting swiftly, the enforcement wing removed as many as 28,636 defacements across the Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory within 72 hours from the announcement of election, a statement from the office of CEO said.
As many as 1837 wall-writing, 9276 posters, 5661 banners and 11,862 other defacements from Government, Public and private properties were removed by Flying Squads and MCC teams in a mission mode in last 72 hours across the 20 districts of the Union Territory.
The action was aimed at ensuring that no political advertisement at the cost of public exchequer be displayed prominently in Government, public and private properties during the MCC restricted period.
The J&K election department is committed to work in tandem with all stakeholders to ensure level-playing field for all contestants during the MCC-restricted period, the CEO said. To curb the spread of misinformation and uphold the integrity of the electoral process in the upcoming Assembly Elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Command-and-Control Centres have been set up in the offices of Chief Electoral Officer at Jammu and Srinagar. Similarly, on smaller size, control rooms have been made functional on 24 x 7 basis in all 20 DC offices.
Equipped with state-of-art infrastructure, the Command-and-Control Centre has integrated latest technologies. It would function round-the-clock to keep a close vigil on all the election-related activities ensuring strict and prompt action, including against any suspected case of fake news, a statement from the office of Chief Electoral Officer, J&K said.
The establishment of Command-and-Control Centres would bolster the electoral process in Jammu and Kashmir, and will be a collaborative work space to review the situation in all the 90 constituencies of the Union Territory.
“In addition to electronic channels, the Command & Control Centre is also keeping strict vigil on social media channels and media portals and accounts viz a viz Media Monitoring on such elements who may attempt to build any such narrative which can prove detrimental to the peace and tranquillity in the society, violate ECI norms of MCC applicable to all stakeholders,” the statement said.
It is pertinent to mention here that Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir, has appealed all citizens and all political parties to adhere to the guidelines issued by Election Commission of India in order to maintain sanctity of the democratic process in J&K.
He also appealed to general public to use C-Vigil app for highlighting MCC related violations. He assured to take all such complaints to logical conclusion within the time frame of ECI, that is 100 minutes.
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