Goa: 219 poll code, Covid safety violations found during campaigning so far, says CEO

PANAJI: Every day, an average of 30 violations of model code of conduct (MCC) and Covid protocol during election campaigning are being reported in Goa, through the C-Vigil app. Over the last 13 days, 329 complaints were received of which 219 were confirmed to be violations on verification, chief electoral officer (CEO) for Goa, Kunal, said on Friday.
Additionally, 28,413 defacements of properties have been removed by the election commission’s teams across the state.Also, altogether drugs, alcohol, cash and gold worth Rs 2.4 crore has been seized so far, Kunal said.
“A total of 81 flying squads are functional in all constituencies 24x7. We have been popularising the C-Vigil app on which any citizen can give details of any violations with live location. Complaints coming on the app are being monitored by the CEO’s office and DEOs and time-bound action is taken,” he said.
Further, he said the Goa police, narcotics control bureau and excise department teams have seized Rs 1.9 crore worth of liquor, Rs 4.5 lakh cash, Rs 28 lakh worth drugs and Rs two lakh worth of precious metals so far.
Of these, NCB has seized 23 kgs of drugs, while the excise department seized Rs 4,000 litres of alcohol in a single day.
Nine FIRs for violation of MCC and Covid norms violations have been registered so far in Goa, Goa IGP Rajesh Kumar said.
“More than 1,700 preventive arrests have been made, 264 proclaimed offenders and 91 bad characters have been identified, six persons have been shortlisted under NSA and externment has been initiated against 39 persons, who will be sent out of Goa during the elections,” Kumar said.
For MCC and Covid norm violations, returning officers are issuing showcause notices depending on complaints received and even based on media reports, Kunal said.
“We have engaged volunteers from Goa Engineering College’s computer science department. The students are monitoring in addition to our committees. Social media is under our scanner,” he said.
Kunal said that forms received up to January 18 for inclusion of names in the voters list will be disposed of by January 28. He said 14,127 requests have been received for inclusion of names in the voters list.
“One more app that citizens can use is the Know Your Candidate app where all information like affidavits, details of criminal case details, etc will be available. The Commission is committed to improving the transparency in the process. Voters have the right to know their candidate, which they can from the app,” Kunal said.