Hot seat - Ajit Kumar Tripathy,
state election commissioner

Given the widespread agitations in western Odisha to press for permanent benches of Orissa High Court in Sambalpur, Rourkela and Balangir, do you think general elections to the urban local bodies (ULBs) scheduled for September 19 can be held peacefully? The ongoing protests have affected filing of nomination papers and other processes.

The chief minister has invited the central action committee of the western Odisha bar associations for a discussion. If the negotiations end on a positive note and they agree to withdraw their agitation, elections can be held as usual. If they don’t relent, elections obviously cannot be held in those parts. But Odisha is not just western Odisha. There are so many other districts where pre-poll activities are on in full swing.

lBut in case no elections are able to be held, is there any law that empowers you to nominate candidates to the ULBs?

There is the Orissa Municipal Act, 1950, which provides for nomination of candidates belonging to reserved categories — women, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward caste. The government may resort to this step or request for elections at a later date. It is not compulsory that all the 91 ULBs have to go to polls simultaneously. Elections are held when a body has completed five years in office which is why Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have been excluded from polling for the time being.

What if an ULB in western Odisha has completed its normal five-year term? How will it continue without fresh elections?

Then the old body cannot continue. The government has to engage collectors or the additional district magistrate or some other official as the administrator for that municipality. So, that person will be the one-man council.

Before the 74th Amendment Act, 1992 (which gave constitutional recognition to ULBs), there were many urban bodies which had the collector as the chairman because elections could not be held for some reason or the other.

Why are you relying on the 2001 Census data for ULB polls when the latest was conducted in 2011?

A lot of time-consuming processes take place before elections such as delimitation of areas, preparing electoral rolls, inviting objections for addition or deletion of voters and so on. By the time our notification was issued, the 2011 figures were not available. If we waited for an indefinite period, many ULBs would have exceeded their five-year term. So, we decided to go by the old data, which is absolutely in tandem with the provisions of the Act. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack elections will be held in February as per latest figures.

What steps are you taking to ensure that the elections are held peacefully?

We conducted a joint meeting of district collectors and superintendents of police. The director general (DG) of police is monitoring security measures. The additional DG (intelligence) is taking care of the movement of political leaders and possible disturbances. The usual model code of conduct that forbids members of different parties not to speak against each other, destroy each other’s banners, highlight their achievements and so on, is on.

What instructions did you issue in the joint meeting?

We have addressed various crucial issues such as conducting regular checks to stop unlawful flow of liquor, stopping and preventing distribution of money and bribes, implementing unexecuted warrants against criminals, checking the entry of undesirable elements from rural pockets into urban areas, ban on unauthorised vehicles for electioneering. Police will also check for illegal weapons and unlicensed guns, which would be kept in the police station until the polls are over.

Is there any threat perception from the Maoists this time?

None, so far. No collector or municipal body or any section of voters have received threats yet. In the proper urban areas the possibility of surprise attacks is remote.

A group of BJD leaders have raised allegations that the Congress has violated the model code of conduct by publishing ads in various newspapers on the 70th birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, mentioning programmes undertaken by the party. Have you taken exception to this?

It has to be legally examined. Restrictions are applicable to government of India ads ahead of civil polls in a state. But unless the achievements highlighted are Odisha-specific, it does not attract voters here.

Last week, you issued a notice to the Puri district collector for allegedly launching the Raja Harischandra scheme, which provides for financial aid for cremation of the poor, on August 15. But the model code of conduct came into force on August 12. The collector said he was not present at the launch. But you are yet to clarify your stand.

We found out that the scheme was announced on August 6 and it was notified that it would start on August 15. We got details that no favours had been shown which means the code of conduct was not violated.