Politicos warned against influencing voters in Ongole

Ongole: Prakasam District Collector Vadarevu Vinay Chand announced that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will be in force until the election process is complete.

He interacted with political leaders in the CPO conference hall on Monday and explained about the model code of conduct.

The Collector said that the Election Commission (EC) has issued notification for the state assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections on March 10. He said that cases will be booked on the leaders who are trying to influence or threaten the voters.

The political parties can arrange meetings and rallies with prior permission from the election officials and advised the leaders to organise them without causing any inconvenience to the public.

He said that the parties should take permission from the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee before releasing any advertisements to the print and electronic media and should not use loud speakers between 10 pm and 6 am in the campaign.

Vinay Chand said that there are 25,70,410 electors in the district in which there are 12,79,051 male, 12,91,217 female and 142 third gender voters.

He announced that the MLA candidate can spend up to Rs 28 lakh while the MP candidate can spend up to Rs 70 lakh in the elections. He said that they have arranged media cell and a round the clock working control room in the collectorate to know the details about the voter lists.

Joint Collector S Nagalakshmi, DRO Venkata Subbaiah and other officials participated in the meeting along with the representatives from political parties.