Lok Sabha polls: Over 11,600 political hoardings, posters removed within 72 hours in Noida

Noida, Mar 20 (PTI) As many as 11,682 defacements, including wall writings, posters and banners, were removed in Gautam Buddh Nagar district within 72 hours in line with the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha election, according to official data.

Of the total defacements removed, 9,361 were on public properties and 2,321 on private spaces across the district, data on the status of enforcement of poll code, accessed by PTI, showed.

According to the Election Commission’s guidelines on model code of conduct, all wall writings, posters, papers, cutouts, banners, flags or defacements in any other form, including cutouts, hoardings, banners, among others, on government properties should be removed within 24 hours from the announcement of elections.

Additionally, all “unauthorised political advertisement” in similar forms on public properties and public spaces such as railway stations, bus stands, airports, railway bridges, roadways, government buses, electric or telephone poles, municipal and local bodies’ buildings, shall be removed within 48 hours of the announcement, the EC says.

Further, subject to any local law and court’s direction, any unauthorised political advertisement displayed on private properties shall be removed within 72 hours from the announcement of polls, according to the poll panel.

According to data on the status of model code of conduct enforcement in Gautam Buddh Nagar, local election authorities removed defacements, including wall writings, posters and banners, from 9,361 public and 2,321 private properties across the district from March 17 to March 19.

As many as 6,329 defacements were removed within 24 hours of the model code of conduct coming into force, 10,611 within 48 hours and 11,682 within 72 hours, the data showed.

“We are ensuring 100 per cent compliance of the guidelines of the Election Commission on model code of conduct for the upcoming polls,” Additional District Magistrate Nitin Madan told PTI on Wednesday.

Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar, which comprises the twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida adjoining Delhi, goes to polls on April 26 in the second phase of the general elections and has 26.20 lakh registered voters.

Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency consists of five state assembly areas — Noida, Dadri, Jewar, Khurja and Sikandrabad. Of the five, Khurja and Sikandrabad fall in the adjoining Bulandshahr district and the model code of conduct enforcement data excludes the status in these two areas.