DC holds meeting with representatives of political

Published on: 17 Mar 2024 at 05:06 PM

Published by: thefactnews

P S Walia

Kapurthala, March 17

DC holds meeting with representatives of political parties, Urges to adhere MCC
• Reiterates that District Administration committed for free, fair & seamless conduct of polls
• Total 791 polling stations in Four constituencies with 620819 voters including 324179 male and 296608 female voters
• Sets up Voter Help Line in room no 316 district administrative complex, launches toll free no 1950 for election related info
• Asks political parties to utilize cVigil, SUVIDHA, SAMADHAN & SUGAM apps for different purposes

From P .S.Walia Kapurthala
Kapurthala, March 17: With the announcement of schedule of Lok Sabha polls, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Amit Kumar Panchal on Sunday held a meeting with the representatives of national and state political parties seeking cooperation and support to ensure free, fair and smooth conduct of polls across district.
Apprising the representatives of political parties about the Election Commision’s guidelines, Deputy Commissioner urged them to strictly comply with the Model Code of Conduct as stipulated by the commission. He also informed them that the District Election Office had already deputed nodal officers and constituted teams of officials for the facilitation of general public and political parties regarding poll activities. He said a voter’s helpline had also been setup in Room No 306 at District Administrative Complex with a toll free number 1950 & contact number of election office 01822-292001. He said people could also contact the election office through its email etkpt@punjab.gov.in and electeh.kapurthala@gmail.com
Accompanied by the SSP Vatsala Gupta, the District Election Officer Panchal said that candidates and parties should not indulge in any activity hurting any religion, caste or areas besides not using any religious place for political activities. He said that as per the guidelines there should be not at all any violation of Model Code of Conduct besides getting all requisite permissions prior for holding meeting, rallies and gatherings.
Giving details about the total count of voters, Panchal said that in all four assembly constituencies in the district as many as 6,20,819 voters enrolled so far of which 133787 in Bholath constituency, 146313 in Kapurthala, 148177 in Sultanpur Lodhi and 192542 in Phagwara constituency. The district has 1281 service voters and 19 NRI voters, said Deputy Commissioner adding that as many as 10725 voters are between the age group of 18-19 years while 4079 PWDs and 16103 voters are above the age of 80 years. He pointed out that at all 791 polling stations elaborate arrangements would be made to facilitate the voters and polling staff especially for PWD and senior citizen voters.
Urging the political parties and their representatives to take advantage of apps unveiled by the ECI, Deputy Commissioner said that cVigil app could be utilized for complaints related to violation of MCC, which are to be resolved within 100 minutes. Similarly, they can take benefit of SUVIDHA/SAMADHAN/SUGAM apps of the ECIs for different purposes.
Panchal also informed that the teams of District Administration and Municipal Corporations were continuously working for strict compliance of ECI with regard to defacement of property by removing all political hoardings, banners, flexes and other material.
SSP Vatsala Gupta also interacted with the political representatives and assured that the law & order situation would be maintained at all costs besides ensuring foolproof security arrangements.
Representatives of different political parties namely Lalit Saklani of Aam Aadmi Party, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Parminder Singh from Congress Party, Hardeep Singh Walia and Harjit Singh Walia from Shiromani Akali Dal, Sarbjit Singh Deol from Bhartiya Janata Party, Harinder Sheetal and Tarsem Singh Thaper from Bahujan Samaj Party and K.L. Kaushal from CPI were present in the meeting. Panchal assured them that the District Administration was fully committed to conduct seamless polls in all four constituencies.
Prominent amongst those present in the meeting included Additional Deputy Commissioner (G) Shikha Bhagat, SP (Hqrs) Gurpreet Singh, Election Tehsildar Manjit Kaur and others.