Haryana Chief Electoral Officer, Rajeev Ranjan on Saturday said all officials engaged in the election duty should work according to the guidelines and directives of the Election Commission of India.
The CEO presided over a review meeting regarding election preparations in the Faridabad division with District Election Officers, Assistant Returning Officers and other officials engaged in election process in Faridabad
During the meeting, District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Atul Diwedi also presented a detailed report on the current elections preparations in the district for the Lok Sabha elections. District Election Officer, Palwal Maniram Sharma and District Election Officer, Mewat, Pankaj also presented reports of their respective districts before the Electoral Commissioner.
The CEO dialled the toll free number 1950 and received the vote related information and also checked call received on the toll free number. He also checked the complaints received on Twitter and its replies.
Ranjan said that for the first time, c-Vigil App is being used in the election, through which anyone could upload any photograph or video related to violation of Model Code of Conduct or carrying out of any irregularities by any candidate or political party. He clarified that this app could only be used for complaints related to the election process. Through this App, the general public is being empowered. The complaints received on c-Vigil through photo and video would be redressed within 100 minutes by the officer concerned. This would help in detecting the location. That would also make up for strong evidences against the candidate which can be presented in the court. This time, technology would be used in elections, under which violation of Model Code of Conduct and concealing of election expenditure would be impossible.
The CEO said that only having a voter slip is not the proof of being a voter, it is important to have an identity card for voting. Eleven alternative documents have been specified by the Election Commission for identification purpose during voting. He said that now, all voting related information would be easily available for voters in all districts, through Touch Screen. For this purpose, touch screens would be set up across the state. Through the medium of this screen, the voter could get information like vote, booth no, place of booth, EPIC no, Assembly number, Vidhan Sabha Constituency, vote related information about all members of family.
The official asked to speed up the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) activities in Faridabad division and directed the officers for elaborate work to increase the voting percentage. He said that those eligible voters who still do not have their voter’s card, they could apply to get their voters card made till April 12, 2019 up to 3 pm. They could also apply online on www.nvsp.in. He said that awareness should also be generated among people to check their name in Voters list.
In order to publicize this, hoardings are being put up at public places and Electoral Literacy Club has been made active at colleges and universities. He said that the principals of colleges would also issue a certificate ensuring that no student in their college who is 18 years or above age is without Voter’s Card.
Ranjan said that this time, such arrangements would be made in Lok Sabha elections that the polling parties need not stand and wait in long queues for the deposit of their belongings but instead their belongings would be deposited quickly on their arrival. Now, the counters for depositing of belongings by the polling parties would not be fixed, but any polling party could go to any counter and deposit their belongings.
He said all facilities prescribed by the Election Commission on polling stations should be provided. All the Assistant Returning Officers should visit polling booths under their respective assembly constituencies and would ensure that no polling station lacks any facility. The facilities included clean drinking water, shed, ramps for divyangs, electricity, toilets, two doors for entry and exit in the polling station and others. He also gave the necessary guidelines to the officials for conducting Lok Sabha elections in a free, fair, and peaceful manner. He also asked to complete the work of appointing of BLA (booth level agent) through the representation of political parties. He said that on the basis of past experience, such polling stations, which have less voting percentage, there more number of motivational activities and awareness programs should be organized for voters.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that all political parties should be asked to use environment friendly material in the election campaigning. Loud speakers should not be used during the campaigning from 10 am to 6 am according to Election Commission's guidelines. This time, booth level officers would visit every house and distribute the voters slip five days’ before the voting and after distributing the voters slip ensure to take the signature of the person concerned. He said that all Duty Magistrates and Inspecting Officers engaged in election duty would have GPS systems in their vehicles so that monitoring of electoral duty could be done with additional awareness.