Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III held an emergency meeting yesterday morning with several Undergraduate Council members to discuss charges of conflicts of interest in the conduct of this year's general election.

Also, Epps said that council member Melissa Garza '94 lodged an official complaint in a letter this week regarding the preparation--or lack thereof--for the upcoming election.

While the deadline to declare candidacy for representative positions was originally set at 5 p.m. today, Epps has ordered an extension until Monday afternoon.

Many council members are now asking why the elections have not been publicized, and some are speculating that current executives were delaying the campus-wide announcements to aid the succesful elections of their supporters.

Within the last two weeks, Epps has addressed council Secretary Randall A. Fine '96 regarding his role in commandeering early election planning.

Garza said that Fine and council Chair Michael P. Beys '94 violated the council's new constitution formed last spring because a clause prohibits council members who plan to run for executive positions from taking charge of the initial election.

Hillary K. Anger '93-94, who drafted the conflict-of-interest election legislation last spring, said that whoever oversees the general election usually goes on to win the council-wide election for chair, held shortly after council meetings commence in October.

"It's an unfair advantage to have the person who is meeting all the incoming members and working most closely with them to be running for an executive position," Anger said in an interview yesterday.

Anger explained that first-term representatives can be easily influenced to vote for perhaps the one familiar face among the myriad of executive candidates.

Her amendment should have precluded both Fine and Beys, who are both reportedly planning to run for re-election to the Executive Council, from organizing the election in the absence of the constitutionally-designated election director, Vice Chair David L. Hanselman '94.

Late this summer, Hanselman decided to spend a year away from Harvard, leaving his position vacant.

As secretary, Fine claimed to be the constitutional successor to Hanselman, despite some council members' beliefs that Fine himself planned to run for the position of vice chair once the general election was over.

"I'm not saying that they were trying to rigthe election," said Mark D. McKay '94, anexecutive council member, yesterday. "Butdefinitely someone screwed up. I haven't even seenone poster."

McKay also could not recall when he wasinformed of the candidacy application deadline,another issue raised by Epps at yesterday's 8 a.m.meeting at the Faculty Club.

"I didn't know when applications were due untilyesterday," McKay lamented. "And I'm an executive.If I didn't know, I don't know who would."

Epps said he realized the dearth of studentswho were aware of this year's election procedurewhen several approached his office seekinginformation on the council and how to declarecandidacy for a representative position.