Hoshiarpur/16 Oct./Daljeet Ajnoha
Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Komal Mittal told senior journalist Daljeet Ajnoha during a special conversation that with the announcement of by-election in Chabbewal Assembly constituency by the Election Commission, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the constituency with immediate effect. She said that as per the schedule released by the Election Commission, polling is to be held on November 13, while counting of votes will be held on November 23. She said that the district administration has already started preparations and arrangements to conduct free, fair and peaceful elections. She informed that apart from setting up a dedicated control room at the District Administrative Complex, the administration has also constituted various committees and monitoring teams. She informed that the nomination process is scheduled to begin from October 18, while the last date for filing nominations is October 25. She informed that scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on October 28, while the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is October 30. Additional Deputy Commissioner (G) Rahul Chaba is the Returning Officer for the by-election and nominations can be filed at his office DAC from 11 am to 3:00 pm on the scheduled days. She informed that there are a total of 205 polling stations in the constituency, which have 159141 voters including 83544 male, 75593 female, four transgender, 21 NRI and 601 service voters. The administration has constituted nine flying squads, nine static monitoring teams and three video surveillance teams to ensure smooth and peaceful elections.
DC informed that Adarsh Polling Stations, PWD-managed and Mahila-managed polling stations will be set up for the convenience of voters. Voters aged 85 years or above and 40 percent disabled voters will be able to vote from home. She informed that volunteers will be deployed at the polling station to provide wheel chair and transport facilities to elderly and other needy voters as well as other necessary facilities including drinking water, public facilities, ramp and helpdesk. Referring to any kind of violation of the model polling station, the Deputy Commissioner said that in such cases people can report the violation on the C-Vigil app, which will be resolved within 100 minutes. She informed that a control room has been set up in room number 235 of DAC with telephone number 01882-225013 to provide election related information, apart from this voters can also get necessary information from helpline 1950. The Deputy Commissioner informed that Media Certification and Monitoring Committee and other committees have been constituted to provide necessary permission to political parties. She said that a special cell has been set up in MA Branch (Room No. 210) to grant approval for rallies, loud speakers and other election activities.
