Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Chief Electoral Officer Nikunja Bihari Dhal on Saturday directed the district nodal officers to ensure free and fair elections in the state by preventing misuse of money power.
Speaking at a training programme of the district nodal officers on the election expenditure monitoring for simultaneous elections, held in his office in Bhubaneswar, Dhal said free and fair election process is the hallmark of a democracy and all district level officers should discharge their responsibilities with integrity and fearlessness.
“The district nodal officers have the responsibility to prevent misuse of money power to keep the elections free and fair. The election expenses of all the candidates will be kept under close watch. The expenditure of a candidate should not cross the prescribed limit of Rs 40 lakh and Rs 95 lakh in Assembly and Lok Sabha respectively,” he said.
Dhal said all arrangements should be made at the district level to monitor expenditure concealment, misrepresentation of expenditure, paid news and take action as per the rules.
The nodal officers were trained on their roles, responsibilities, power, functions and legal aspects of election expenditure monitoring in two sessions of the training programme. It was discussed in detail by Additional Chief Electoral Officer N Tirumala Nayak and Sataghankar through power point presentations.
Nodal officers from all districts of the state participated in the training.
