The Election Commission of India on Saturday announced by-election in three Assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh. The three constituencies of Vijayraghaogarh, Bahoriband and Agar (SC) will go to the polls on August 21.
A notification would be issued on July 26. The last date of making nominations would be August 2, the scrutiny of nominations would be held on August 4, the last date for withdrawal of nominations by the candidates would be August 6, the polling would be held on August 21, the counting of ballots would be held on August 25 and the election process should come to an end before August 30.
The electoral rolls of these Assembly constituencies had been revised with reference to January 1, 2014 as the qualifying date and were published on January 31. The commission has decided to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in all the polling stations. Adequate number of EVMs has been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.
The voter’s identification shall be mandatory for exercising the right to vote. Photo electoral rolls (PER) and Electors’ photo identity cards (EPIC) shall be the main documents of identification of a voter. However, in order to ensure that no voter is deprived of franchise if the name of voter figures in the electoral rolls, separate instructions will be sued to allow additional documents for identification of voters at the time of polling.
With the announcement of by-election in three Assembly constituencies of the State, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into force in the districts in which the whole or any part of the Assembly constituencies going to the polls is included. The MCC shall be applicable to all candidates, political parties and the State government. It shall also be applicable to the Union Government vis-à-vis the State.