The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed three special observers for the upcoming Assembly polls in the State. They are in addition to the general, expenditure and police observers posted at the district and constituency level, according to Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena.
J. Ramakrishna Rao, a former IAS officer, has been appointed special general observer. Deepak Mishra, a former IPS officer, is the special police observer and Pushpinder Singh Puniha, a former IRS officer, is the special expenditure observer.
Mr. Mishra and Mr. Singh have arrived in the State. They held discussions with Mr. Meena, Chief Secretary V.P. Joy and State Police Chief Loknath Behera. In the coming days, the special observers will visit various districts to assess the ground situation.
In the first phase, they will visit Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram and Kozhikode. They will have meetings with the District Election Officers and the observers appointed in these districts and ensure that the elections are conducted in a free and fair environment.
Observers have also been posted at the district and constituency level to monitor the election process. In all, there are 70 general observers, 20 police observers and 40 expenditure observers. One expenditure observer has been specially posted for the Lok Sabha bypoll in Malappuram.
