Following the suspension of a flying squad official recently for failing to properly check the cavalcade of Nilgiris Lok Sabha MP, A. Raja, the district collector has announced that the number of flying squads has been increased from nine to twelve.
In a press release issued by the collector’s office, it was stated, “In view of the general elections to Lok Sabha 2024, the district administration has deployed 9 Flying Squad Teams (FST), 9 Static Surveillance Teams (SST) and one Video Surveillance Team (VST) each for Udhagamandalam, Gudalur and Coonoor Assembly Segments of Nilgiris parliamentary constituency.”
The press release went onto state that as per the instructions of the Election Expenditure Observer D. Kiran, the FSTs, SSTs and VSTs in the assembly segments of Udhagamandalam, Gudalur and Coonoor have been increased to intensify the monitoring of expenditure of candidates.
In addition to the nine FSTs already deployed, three more would be deployed along with an additional Video Surveillance Team. In addition, three additional Static Surveillance Teams to Gudalur have also been deployed as it is situated along the interstate borders with Kerala and Karnataka, officials said.
“With the new teams deployed, the total strength of the Election Expenditure Monitoring teams has been increased to 72 and they will be on duty 24 hours a day, on all days of the week,” officials said.
On Monday, April 1, 2024 a meeting, chaired by election expenditure observers, Sandeep Mishra and D. Kiran was held in Udhagamandalam with candidates and representatives of candidates contesting in the elections. Mr. Mishra outlined the steps they needed to take to ensure that expenditure details were properly shared with the expenditure observers.
