Thanjavur: The Election Commission
strictly followed the EC rules in the April 13 assembly
elections in Tamil Nadu and the polls were conducted in a fair
manner, State Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said Wednesday.
The governing state law in Tamil Nadu was strictly
implemented and followed for the smooth running of the
elections in the state and the EC acted as per its rules, he
told reporters here when his attention was drawn to Chief
Minister M Karunanidhi`s criticism against the commission.
His comments also came in the wake of Union Home Minister P
Chidambaram recent remarks at a meeting in Sivaganga that the
EC was stringent in Tamil Nadu while being liberal in other
states. Chidambaram`s views were supported by Karunanidhi who
has been critical of the EC during and after the elections.
On initiating legal action against some persons who
violated the model code, Praveen Kumar said nearly 70 per cent
of chargesheets had already been issued against those who had
violated election rules and the rest would be served
chargesheets before May 12. Counting of votes is on May 13.
The CEO was here to review the steps taken at the
`vote-counting-centre` in Kundavai Nachiyar Women`s College
where the EVMs of the Thanjavur, Thiruvaiyaru and Orathanadu
constituencies are kept and monitored from a control room
amid tight security.
Booth-wise counting of votes would be carried out and
for each and every round the total number of votes would be
checked by the Election Observers and the results would be
published in the EC website, he said.
Central micro observers would monitor counting of votes.
Election observers alone would be permitted to use cell
phones inside the counting centres, he added.
PTI
