Calcutta, March 13: The government today assured deputy election commissioner R. Balakrishnan that all graffiti in the state would be erased in seven days.

A senior election department official said: “He asked us what we were doing about the graffiti and the district magistrates decided by consensus that all walls would be cleaned up by March 20.”

Balakrishnan met all 18 district magistrates and the three district election officers for Calcutta at Writers’ Buildings along with chief electoral officer Debasish Sen and election department officials. He discussed the state’s poll preparedness and sought inputs on the problems the officials face.

All election officers were told to strictly enforce the model code of conduct and be on the lookout for instances of violation reported in media.

“He told us to read newspapers, watch TV and be aware of all such instances and notify the Election Commission accordingly,” the official said.

Asked if the chief minister’s oblique assurance to hawkers when he said at a Citu rally yesterday that they had no other place but roads to earn a living from was a violation of the code, Balakrishnan said he was not aware of what he said. “I hope the chief electoral officer will keep us informed on such incidents. We’ve asked him to create a complaint monitoring system and track all complaints districtwise,” he said.

The meeting decided that booths within 200 metres of party and trade union offices would be shut down 48 hours before polling.

“It is not possible to relocate over 3,000 such booths as not many alternatives are available. The administration would have to ensure that the offices shut down 48 hours before polling begins,” the official said.