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Real victory for EC is people coming out to vote in large numbers: Nitin Gadre

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, chief electoral officer Nitin Gadre, in-charge of parliamentary polls in the state, speaks to dna's Naziya Alvi Rahman on preparations and challenges faced by the Election Commission (EC) this year

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What are the major challenges faced by the office of the chief electoral commission in conducting the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra?
We are quite well prepared for the elections. Our job is to execute the procedures and rules laid down by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the best effective way to ensure the polls are conducted in a peaceful manner.

What new ways are being introduced in this election to ensure their better execution?
I think it's for the first time that EC has laid down such elaborate mechanism for keeping a check on candidates' expenditure. Our department is ready to implement it effectively. However, the drive only starts after political parties formally announce the candidates.

Every state has a few 'expenditure-sensitive constituencies'. Have you identified those for Maharashtra? What is the criteria to determine which parliamentary/assembly seat falls under this category?
We are still working on identifying these constituencies, although, I believe, there won't be many in Maharashtra. There are various criteria based upon which these seats are identified, such as worth of the candidates and the area's social and economic scenario, among others. All the directions come from the ECI, we only implement them.

EC has announced distribution of photo voter cards to every voter ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. However, as per records, your data is not yet ready for that. How would you manage it?
Till date, we have been able to update up to 92% of our data with photos. We are continuously working on updating it and should meet the required number by elections.

What special measure would the EC take at the local level to create awareness amongst the voters?
We, as EC, would definitely create awareness by coming out with advertisements, radio jingles, street plays etc. Aamir Khan has agreed to be the face of our awareness campaign. But the real victory for us will be when people come out to vote on election day in large numbers. These are just measures taken by us; we don't want people to vote because we have asked them to but do it out of choice and responsibility towards the nation.

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