Mumbai, Dec 9 (IANS) The office of the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S. Chockalingam on Tuesday instructed the media not to use the Election Commission of India’s logo in news related to local body elections.

The polling for 264 local bodies during the first phase took place on December 2, while for the remaining, it is slated for December 20. Counting will be taken up on December 21.

“It has come to notice that some media reports concerning elections to local self-government bodies in the state have used symbols related to the Election Commission of India, visuals of its buildings, or photographs of the Chief Electoral Officer. Media should not use the ECI logo in local body elections,” said the office of the CEO in a statement.

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer stated that the responsibility of conducting Parliamentary, Legislative Assembly, and Presidential–Vice-Presidential elections lies with the Election Commission of India, and Chief Electoral Officers are appointed in the states to handle this work.

On the other hand, as per Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution, the supervision, conduct, direction, and control of elections to local self-government bodies rest with the State Election Commission.

In Maharashtra, retired Principal Secretary Dinesh Waghmare is serving as the State Election Commissioner. Since the jurisdictions of the two Commissions are separate and independent, the Chief Electoral Officer’s office has clarified that using the logo, officials, buildings, or similar visuals of the Election Commission of India in news reports related to local self-government elections is incorrect, said the statement.

The Chief Electoral Officer’s office has also appealed to the media to promptly correct such errors in reports related to the State Election Commission and remove the concerned videos from social media.

In the first phase of nagar parishads and nagar panchayat elections, 67.63 per cent polling was recorded, according to the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC). The polling was marred by clashes.

–IANS

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