To curb the spread of misinformation and uphold the integrity of the electoral process in the upcoming Assembly Elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Command-and-Control Centres have been set up in the offices of the Chief Electoral Officer at Jammu and Srinagar. Similarly, in smaller sizes, control rooms have been made functional on a 24 x 7 basis in all 20 offices of Deputy Commissioners.
Equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, the Command-and-Control Centre has integrated the latest technologies. It would function round-the-clock to keep a close vigil on all the election-related activities ensuring strict and prompt action, including against any suspected case of fake news.
The establishment of command-and-control centres would bolster the electoral process in Jammu and Kashmir and provide a collaborative workspace to review the situation in all the 90 constituencies of the Union Territory.
Authorities to keep a strict vigil on social media platforms, portals
In addition to electronic channels, the Command & Control Centre is also keeping a strict vigil on social media channels and media portals and accounts viz a viz media monitoring on such elements who may attempt to build any such narrative which can prove detrimental to the peace and tranquillity in the society, violate Election Commission of India (ECI) norms of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) applicable to all stakeholders.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir, has appealed to all citizens and all political parties to adhere to the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India in order to maintain the sanctity of the democratic process in J&K.
He also appealed to the general public to use the C-Vigil app to highlight MCC-related violations.
28,636 defacements removed within 72 hours across J&K
The J&K Election Department has removed more than 28 thousand defacements across Jammu and Kashmir within 72 hours after the announcement of the J&K Assembly Election 2024.
With the announcement of the Assembly Election in Jammu and Kashmir on 16 August 2024 by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Commission had issued directions for the effective enforcement of provisions of MCC in J&K Union Territory.
Taking the ECI directives regarding the implementation of MCC after the announcement of elections into consideration, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Jammu & Kashmir, P K Pole directed the enforcement wing of the department to remove all the wall-writing, posters, banners or defacement in any other form on the Government properties and others in no time.
Acting swiftly, the enforcement wing removed as many as 28,636 defacements across the Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory within 72 hours from the announcement of the election, a statement from the office of the CEO said.
As many as 1837 wall-writing, 9276 posters, 5661 banners, and 11,862 other defacements from Government, Public, and private properties were removed by Flying Squads and MCC teams in a mission mode in the last 72 hours across the 20 districts of the Union Territory.
The action was aimed at ensuring that no political advertisement at the cost of the public exchequer is displayed prominently in Government, public, and private properties during the MCC restricted period.
