P .S.Walia
Kapurthala, May 8
The District Administration is all set to start handing over of voting machines to Assistant Returning Officer assembly constituency wise from May 7.
Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Amit Kumar Panchal, while giving details in this regard, said that Administration had made a schedule to hand over voting machines from May 7 to 10. The members of political parties can also witness the process from handing over till storage of evms in respective Assembly Constituency’s strong room, said Panchal adding that the concerned AROs will apprise them about the schedule. He said that as per the instruction of the Election Commission of India these machines would be placed at assembly segment level strong room having arrangements of CCTv cameras and adequate security system.
As per schedule, on first day machines would be given for Bholath assembly segment while Sultanpur Lodhi constituency officials to get the machines on May 8 followed by ARO Kapurthala on May 9 while the machines would be handed to Phagwara officials on May 10. The AROs will also apprise the representatives of political parties regarding schedule of receiving voting machines besides adhering strict compliance of ECI’s guidelines at the time of shifting machines, he added.
Panchal further said that requisite arrangements would be put in place at all 791 polling stations in all four assembly segments so as to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of polls. He said that a committed had also been formed to examine the requests for exemption in poll duty by officials on different grounds. The requests will be received in room no 16 at DAC’s ground floor on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 am to 12 noon. The committee will recommend the cases in its report to be submitted to ADC (G)-cum-Nodal Officer Manpower Management for consideration to exempt duties on the basis of inevitable reasons.
Urging voters to exercise their right to franchise on June 1, Panchal said that all voters should ensure their active involvement in Lok Sabha polls.
Pertinently, under ongoing SVEEP activities the activity held an activity at local Virsa Vihar called as ‘Fruit Carving’ awareness event, where members gave a message to voters to cast vote freely, fairly and fearlessly besides urging the polls staff to discharge their election duties diligently. This SVEEP activity aimed at disseminating awareness regarding poll process so that maximum poll percentage could be ensured on June 1.
