New Delhi: The Election Commission called for an all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in New Delhi.
Although representatives of seven recognised national parties and 40 state parties were called for the meeting, only 32 political parties sent their representatives.
The parties shared their view on possible Lok Sabha election dates and told the EC that there should be a code of conduct for media as media reports influence voters.
The role of surrogate advertisement was also discussed at the meeting.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami and other two Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and SY Quraishi.
This is the first of a series of such meetings the Commission will hold till February 6.
The meeting comes just a day after the Union Government pulled up Gopalaswami for acting like a "political boss" after he sent a recommendation to the President Pratibha Devisingh Patil for the removal of Election Commissioner Chawla.
Union Law Minister HR Bhardwaj on Monday slammed Gopalswamy and said he should just do his job. He also indicated that the govt may decline CEC's recommendation for removal of Chawla.
It is also first time that all the three Election Commissioners came together to chalk out strategy for the Lok Sabha elections after the stand-off between Gopalaswami and Chawla and the report about the former seeking removal of the latter came out in public.
The EC will also have a day-long review meeting with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all states and Union Territories on Tuesday to review progress in revision of electoral rolls, the status of photo electoral rolls and distribution of Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC).
The Commission would hold discussions with Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of all states and Union Territories for two days from February 5.
The meeting would also discuss an "advanced preparatory measure" for the massive democratic exercise.
The electoral rolls, the first and foremost requirement for conducting the elections, are ready in all the states as of January 22, except in six states and Jammu and Kashmir which went to Assembly polls recently.
The rolls in these seven states would be ready by February 10.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of reports quoting Quraishi that the Lok Sabha polls could be held between April 8 and May 15. However, the EC made it clear that no date has been finalised so far. The new Lok Sabha needs to be constituted by May 31.
The Lok Sabha elections in the country are the largest electoral exercise in the world involving over 671 million voters.
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