Chief Electoral Office of Jharkhand L Khiyangte has informed that only new applications for adding names into the voters or the applications for change in address would be accepted after March 20.
Addressing an orientation workshop related to the Lok Sabha elections on Monday the CEO said that the list published by the Election Commission of India in January is updated. “Applications for inclusion of new voters into the list would be accepted after March 20 along with those coming for change of address. Applications for change in name and address can be given online on ‘nsvp.in’,” said Khiyangte.
The CEO on the occasion reiterated the decision of the ECI regarding release of election manifesto by the political parties. “The Commission has fixed the timeline for releasing manifestos by the parties. No manifesto can be released after the campaigning comes to an end, i.e. 48 hours before the polling time as per the new provisions,” he said.
The Commission has also set a guideline for the vehicles carrying the VVPAT-EVMs. The vehicles would be GPS monitored from cluster point to the polling stations and from polling stations to the designated strong rooms. The GPS system would be in place in the official vehicle of the sectoral magistrate so that no confusion about the set route remains. In case there is any change in the route chart then the official would be updated about it, informed he.
Khiyangte also underlined the role of the media in conducting free and fair polls by generating awareness among the voters.
He also advised the media to remain alert to the news coming about elections. “News intended to wrongly affect the voters may come and the elements indulge into such activities may come to fore. The media needs to be vigilant to that so that the elections are conducted in free and fair manner,” said the CEO.
Additional CEO Manish Ranjan talked about provisions to identify paid news and for stopping that. He also appealed people to register complaint on the c-Vigil app and other applications like ‘Suvidha’ and ‘Samadhan’ along with voter helpline numbers.
“Expenditure incurred by the candidates would be monitored closely by the Commission with the help of the media. Voters’ slips would be delivered to the voters at their homes to encourage them for voting.
BLOs have been given instruction for that,” said Manish Ranjan.