Free and fair polls top priority of Haridwar administration, say new DM, SSP

HARIDWAR: A day after the Election Commission (EC) of India removed the incumbent

DM

and

SSP

of Haridwar for not taking action in an apparent violation of the code of conduct, the new DM and SSP of the district held a media interaction to spell out their priorities for the polls. Newly appointed district magistrate S A Murugesan and senior superintendent of police Krishna Kumar said that holding assembly polls strictly as per the EC's guidelines will be their top priority. They also appealed to people to bring to the administration's notice any instances of the violation of the code of conduct so that speedy action can be taken. "Your cooperation will be of great help in holding

free and fair polls

," the officials told the media persons.

Viewed against the backdrop of the action taken by the EC against Harbans Singh Chugh and Rajiv Swaroop, the outgoing DM and SSP, respectively, Murugesan and Kumar's was quite reassuring. To ensure that there is no recurrence of the incident in which an associate of BJP nominee Kunwar Pranav flashed a weapon during the former MLA's nomination, February 1 has been fixed as the deadline to deposit all licenced weapons in the district. "Action for cancellation of licence will be initiated against those failing to do so," the SSP warned. According to him, about 80% of licenced weapons have already been deposited with the administration. The deadline has been specified for the remaining 20%. If anything violating the election's code of conduct takes place, immediate action will be taken irrespective of who the person involved is, Murugesan said.

Addressing district officials engaged in the election duty earlier, the DM (also the district election officer) said that serious note will be taken of any negligence in discharge of duty. "There should be an emphasis on doing your duty efficiently and in time," he told the officials. "While the subordinate officers should keep their seniors posted with necessary feedback about their work, the seniors should continuously review the junior's work," he added.