Chennai, May 12: Jawans guarding booths during the May 14 byelections in Tamil Nadu will know exactly how to stand and deliver. Thanks to the Supreme Court.

“One jawan from the party will be positioned at the entrance of the polling station with his face towards the inside of the polling booth,” says the apex court, “so that he can watch the proceedings inside the booth.”

At the Election Commission’s request, the Union home ministry has made available eight companies of central paramilitary forces for the bypolls to the Kancheepuram and Gummidipoondi Assembly seats.

The forces will come armed with ? apart from their weapons ? what’s virtually a manual on their deployment from the country’s highest court.

The poll panel has “directed” that the forces’ deployment should be done “with reference to the Supreme Court orders in the Janak Singh vs Ram Das Rai and others case, dated January 11, 2005”, state chief electoral officer Naresh Gupta said.

The court asks the jawans to ensure that:

• No unauthorised person is inside the polling station at any time during the poll

• The polling party or polling agents do not attempt to cast votes when no voter is present inside the booth

• No poll official accompanies any voter to the voting compartment

• No polling agent or poll official threatens any voter or makes any gesture to threaten him or her

• No arms are carried inside the polling station

• No booth-capturing takes place

The jawan has been ordered to report to the officer-in-charge of the paramilitary force party or poll observer if “something unusual (is) observed by him”.

In keeping with the court’s suggestion, the proceedings inside the polling station will be shot on video, Gupta said.

The poll panel has frowned on the flouting of expenditure norms by the candidates in both constituencies.

Usually, under Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act, travel expenses of party leaders campaigning for their candidates would not be counted among the candidate’s election spendings.

But this time, since the parties did not furnish in time their list of campaigners, “all the expenditure on travel of all leaders of a party will become part of the expenditure of the political party concerned”, Gupta said.