Assembly elections 2016: EC officials take stock of poll preparations in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry

The Election Commission took stock of the preparedness for May 16 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and expressed satisfaction over it. A team of officials led by Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha, Director Dhirendhra Ojah, arrived in the city today and conducted a meeting with various officials and poll observers.

“We had a discussion on preparations for the election with poll observers and police officers. We found the work taken up to be satisfactory. We will be continuously monitoring the preparations,” Sinha told reporters here. Meanwhile, 275 companies of paramilitary forces began arriving here for poll duty.

The second batch of 5,000 personnel arrived here from various parts of the country including Kolkata and Jharkhand. They would be deputed in constituencies in the state which has about 65,000 polling stations and 5.82 crore voters. Election Commission has initiated several steps for ensuring free and fair polls. Recently top police officials, including City Police Commissioner T K Rajendhran who was replaced by Ashutosh Shukla, were shifted.