Addressing the media, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, who is currently visiting the state along with the two Election Commissioners, Navin Chawala and S Y Quraishi, said the commission had apprised the officers about “our concern for free and fair polls”.

At their meetings with the commission on Wednesday, the Samajwadi Party had demanded removal of Chief Secretary A K Gupta, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, Additional Cabinet Secretary V S Pandey, Principal Secretary (Home) Fateh Bahadur Singh, DGP Vikarm Singh, and ADG (Law and Order) Brij Lal. The BJP had also demanded removal of some officers, including Fateh Bahadur Singh.

Today, the EC held a meeting with the officers posted in field to review the poll preparedness. It asked the district magistrates to prepare “vulnerability map” of their areas. The EC’s focus now is on the appointment of micro-observers.

The commission saw merit in the request of political parties that the candidates should get the same voters’ list that was made available to the polling party at a polling station. “This is an important point. We would look into this,” he said.