The suggestions came from a Bench of Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice G.P. Mathur and Justice A.K. Mathur while dismissing a petition challenging the election of RJD candidate Ram Das Rai to the Bihar Assembly in 2000 elections.

Fearing threats to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, especially in Bihar and Jharkhand, the commission has also written a letter to the state Electoral Officers of three states, directing them to ensure that the members of the weaker sections were not deprived of their voting right.

The commission invited their attention towards the provisions of the Section 3(VII) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The provision on "offences of atrocities" says anybody who "forces or intimidates a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe not to vote or to vote for a particular candidate or to vote in the manner other than provided by the law" would be liable for "imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and with fine."

The commission instructed the state Electoral Officers to direct the police officials on duty to register cases if any such incident was brought to their notice or cases of violation of said provisions of law observed.

In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officers of Haryana, Jharkhand, and Bihar, the commission directed them to keep a strict watch over the election expenditure by their offices and by the offices of the district Returning Officers.

The commission asked the state election offices to ensure that polling stations, where Central paramilitary forces personnel were deployed, should have at least one of them stationed at the entrance to get an unrestricted view of the polling procedure.

Further, the Election Commission directed its observers not to accept any undue hospitality of the state.

The commission directed the Chief Electoral Officers to bring to the notice of the observers and authorities concerned a Supreme Court directive in this regard and ensure its strict compliance.

Deepak Jain
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