Outlook: Mumbai: Tuesday,
April 29, 2014.
All records pertaining to cases of poll code
violation registered against candidates in the last three Lok Sabha elections
and action taken against them by the state election commission got destroyed in
a 2012 fire mishap at Mantralaya, an RTI query has revealed.
"Public Information Officer Shirish Mohod in
the office of the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer has informed us that all
files and records pertaining to our query got destroyed in the massive fire
incident at Mantralaya on June 21, 2012.
"Hence he CEO's office has no records to
provide information to our queries," said activist Anil Galgali who had
sought the information through a query on April 7, 2014.
Galgali had also sought to know the exact number
of MPs disqualified for violating the poll code and also details of re-polls
conducted on seats represented by them.
In its reply, the General Administration
Department (GAD) informed Galgali that CEO's office has no records to give
information regarding the query.
Galgali demanded strong action against those
candidates who have violated the model code of conduct which he said should act
as a "deterrent" for future violations.
"It is very sad and unfortunate that, despite
the orders of the chief minister and the chief secretary of Maharashtra to
reconstruct all files destroyed in the blaze, the GAD looking into the election
work has ignored the restoration work," he said.
Five persons were killed and several others
injured, besides loss of many files, in the fire accident at the state
secretariat.
Offices of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and
deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar were gutted in the blaze.
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