Conviction rate in election-related offences high in Karnataka: EC official

The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka, Manoj Kumar Meena, has said that there were over 50 per cent convictions in the cases related to the model code of conduct (MCC) violations in the state.

He said the Election Commission (EC) closely follows the MCC violation cases, which made this happen.

Highest convictions

“Karnataka is one the states where the highest convictions have happened. Last time, 2,000-odd cases were booked. All were charge-sheeted, all were tried and I think more than 50 per cent conviction we have done in Karnataka,” Meena told PTI in an interview.

According to an EC official, these convictions pertain to the elections that have taken place from 2013 to 2019.

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Explaining further, Meena said, “Decisions have happened in all the cases but in more than 50 per cent cases, the convictions were in our favour. It is a big number. I don’t know about other states but it is very rare that in election-related cases convictions are happening.”

Giving details about the high conviction rate, Meena said the cases are booked meticulously and people are imparted training on their handling.

Trained team

“We train our people. The static squad teams and the flying squad teams have got magisterial powers. They have power to search and seize. We have told them how to search and how to seize, how to book a case, how to present before the court and how to take courts permission,” the CEO said.

Noting that huge cash, precious metals and freebies have been seized in the state “like never before” during the ongoing Karnataka Assembly election process, Meena said the exercise started well in advance, almost four months prior to the election dates being announced in form of coordination with various agencies.

Since, everything was in place, the official machinery was able to do it in a more professional way and caught a huge amount of cash, gold, liquor and freebies.

He said the commission is seeking and getting public support through its mobile application cVIGIL where anyone can take a picture or share any information about any election-related malpractice.

Large seizures

According to the data shared by Meena’s office, as on Thursday, seizures totalled Rs 292.06 crore since the model code of conduct came into effect on March 29, including Rs 102.9 crore cash, liquor worth Rs 68.69 crore and 149.31 kg gold worth Rs 76 crore.

Speaking about hate speech, Meena said the commission is watching any such development closely and has booked five such cases.

“We have a dedicated control room for watching the media 24×7. It is not so that after 9 pm we will not watch. We will watch full and give alerts. It is done at the level of the ECI (Election Commission of India) also,” he added.

On the issue of tackling urban apathy during voting, he said various measures have been taken such as identifying pockets where the voting percentage is low, holding meetings with the residents there and creating awareness among them.

Chunavana mobile app

The Commission also relaunched Chunavana mobile application, which will give details about the name, polling station, how to reach there and how many people are standing in the queue, Meena said.

Also read: Karnataka polls: PM Modi to hold road show, 3 public meetings on April 29

“Every 15 minutes, the data will be updated in Chunavana app. So, if you know your booth, if you enter your booth number and Assembly constituency in the application, it will tell you how many people are standing in the queue,” he explained.

Due to the initiatives to encourage people to exercise their franchise, almost 16 lakh new voters have been added after January 5, it was stated.

(With Agency inputs)