Uttar Pradesh Election Commissioner Aparmita Prasad Singh admitted on Thursday that pressures are always exerted by all state governments during elections.
"It is not unusual for any government of the day to pressurise the election machinery, particularly district magistrates, who also often have no option but to buckle down," Singh told mediapersons on Thursday evening.
"To ensure complete impartiality, what needs to be done is grant greater independence and security to district magistrates," he added.
He was candidly of the view that 'to ensure free and truly fair state assembly elections, the Election Commission of India must dispatch one of its senior officials to conduct the exercise from Lucknow'.
He said, "Perfect control over the election machinery was not possible by remote control from New Delhi; for that, someone needs to be sent from the EC to run the show from here."
He also maintained that he had convinced Governor T V Rajeshwar on various misgivings that the latter had expressed about his controversial role, in a communication to the President of India.
He admitted calling on the Governor earlier on Thursday.
While Raj Bhawan sources were tight-lipped about the visit, Singh claimed , "It was a very cordial affair. The Governor did not express any displeasure over my working and I succeeded in removing all doubts from his mind."