The Election Commission has asked the district administrations in the State to enforce the Model Code of Conduct strictly and expedite the process of enrolment of new voters in the electoral rolls.
At a review of the preparations for the ensuing lok Sabha polls in the State at a meeting of the district collectors here on Thursday, Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kujur urged the district chiefs to enforce the code in their respective regions and emphasized on the need for enrolling new voters in the electoral rolls.
The officials who attended the meeting included Additional Chief Electoral Officer Nidhi Chibbar, Raipur Divisional Commissioner Dr Bl Tiwari, Bilaspur Divisional Commissioner KDP Rao, Sarguja Divisional Commissioner Dr BS Anant and Bastar Divisional Commissioner RP Jain. Kujur apprised the officials of the directive of the Election Commission relating to the postal ballots which should be followed strictly. He also said that all necessary steps should be taken to ensure that drinking water facilities, toilets, sheds etc are available at the polling centres in view of the on-coming summer season.
He said the polling parties should be provided all necessary support so that they do not face any difficulties while performing their work, especially when they receive and deposit the voting materials. The registered political parties should be provided with the voter lists free of charge. Similarly, photo voter slips should be distributed to all the voters seven days ahead of the polls.
On the direction of the Election Commission, provision has been made to make available the voter slips online which the voters can access. He said the notification for election would be issued through the returning officers. The notification would be available at the offices of all the district returning officers, Zila Panchayats, Janpad Panchayats, Gram Panchayats, and divisional offices.
He said a candidate can file a maximum of four nomination papers and the security deposit a candidate has to make is Rs 25,000 for general candidates and Rs.12,500 for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category. He also said the preliminary verification of the names of the candidates should be done immediately and they should be posted along with their affidavits on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer within 24 hours.
He said the applications received in a special drive held on March 9 for enrollment of names in the voter list should be processed by March 17.