Kohima Bureau
Kohima, Mar. 4 (EMN): Ever since the announcement to the just concluded 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly general election 2018 was made, the establishment of the chief electoral officer of Nagaland had set up a media cell to share ‘accurate and first hand information.’
Unfortunately, there has been lots of ‘miscommunication and misinformation’ within the CEO office hampering journalists from reporting accurate and updated information. ‘Correct and updated information’ almost always arrived the next day from the CEO’s office.
Journalists in Kohima chasing deadline were left frustrated by a supply of ‘corrected statements’ in the evening which were inevitably followed by another ‘re-corrected statement’ from the CEO’s office.
Almost on a daily basis journalists had to contend with ‘latest update available’ from the election office even though they were not the final/accurate data. The problem was shared with officials in concern and they were also apologetic. An official reasoned ‘this is the first time that functions of Returning Officers (ROs) were decentralised by appointing 55 officers and that the ROs were mostly new and some in remote areas spread across the state’.
Apart from the obvious lack of experience, bad network connectivity also contributed to the CEO office receiving updates late, it was informed. There were also instances of official statements getting leaked through the internet before press conferences or media interactions.
Also on the counting day despite clear instructions from the Election Department to all DCs and DEOs for free passage to press and media personnel with authorised letters during counting process, there were reports of denial of entry to media and press personnel in many districts.
Even in Kohima, some reporters were not allowed to enter inside the DC’s office despite producing authorisation letter from the ECI. Only after the CEO’s office was contacted, they were allowed inside.
