Leaders demand strong measures against paid news

Leaders of various political parties today sought stern action against paid news and asked the Election Commission to take effective measures to curb the menace in the forthcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.
At a meeting with top officials of the Election Commission here this evening, leaders of opposition parties in the state also complained against misuse of official machinery by the state government ahead of elections.
Top poll officials including Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath and Election Commissioners H S Brahma and Nasim Zaidi are on a two-day visit to the state headquarters where they met leaders of various political parties on the election preparedness.

The EC team will meet election officials of the state tomorrow before they return to Delhi.
Madhya Pradesh goes to polls by the end of the year to elect its 230-member new assembly. The tenure of the state assembly expires on December 12, 2013.
In the over two-hour meeting with the poll officials, members of various parties put forth many suggestions for ensuring a free and fair election.
The EC has asked that all officials who have completed three years at a particular posting be transferred and no official should be put on poll duty in their home district. Also all officials working in their home districts will be moved out.

The Commission will also be visiting other poll-bound states also. This is the first meeting of top Commission officials in the five poll-bound states. Besides Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Mizoram will go to polls.