With the campaigning for Gram Panchayat polls coming to an end on Monday, the Punjab State Election Commission claimed to be fully prepared for the elections on July 3 — Wednesday.
All arrangements are in place for peaceful and fair elections to 13,080 Gram Panchayats, said State Election Commissioner SS Brar.
Wednesday would witness elections of sarpanch in a total of 130,80 Gram Panchayats, and for panch in 814,12 wards of villages. The Sarpanches would be elected through direct election.
In the fray are 307,48 candidates for the 130,80 posts of sarpanches, out of which 1841 have already been elected unopposed. For the total 81412 post of panches, a total of 1,17,928 candidates are in the ballot field, while already 23, 655 have been elected unopposed.
State Election Commission has also issued strict instructions to Civil, Police administration to make foolproof security arguments so that election process could be completed peacefully. Brar said that as the canvassing for the election have concluded today, all the parties have been instructed not to campaign after 4 pm.
On the other hand, Punjab police claimed to have made elaborate security arrangements for the smooth conduct of Gram Panchayats elections.
A Police spokesperson informed that 13172 polling stations and 18254 polling booths have been set up for 13080 Gram Panchayats. Out of these, 1634 are hypersensitive polling stations, and 4174 are sensitive.
Total 50,309 police personnel have been mobilized or deputed to ensure peaceful conduct of these elections, he stated.
Spokesperson said that the force would be deployed at each polling station ranging from two to nine police personnel depending upon the number of polling booths per polling station. Additional deployment would be made wherever a particular polling station was considered to be hypersensitive or sensitive.
Spokesperson said that a total 658 police patrolling parties comprising one head constable, and three constables would be deployed to cover the area under polling.
Besides, 196 striking reserves, each comprising a platoon, were being strategically located in the state to act as Quick Response Teams, he added.
He further said that all station house officers (SHOs) and GOs with sufficient force would effect intensive mobile patrolling in their respective areas. The neighboring states have been requested to put on inter state nakas at 145 locations on the roads leading to Punjab.
Nearly two lakh licensed firearms deposited
Ahead panchayat polls, the Punjab Police has got deposited around two lakh licensed ire arms across Punjab. “A total of 1,94,160 licensed fire arms were deposited in the police stations and registered gun houses,” said the police spokesperson.
SEC declares July 3 a dry day
July 3 — the day of the polling and counting - has been declared dry day in the revenue jurisdiction of all villages going to the polls.
State Election Commissioner SS Brar said that SEC has declared July 3 as dry day in the revenue jurisdiction of all villages where polls are to be held, besides issuing instructions to State Government and District administrations to ensure the compliance.
Public holiday declared on July 3
Punjab Government has declared public holiday on July 3 to enable employees to exercise franchise in Panchayat Elections on that day. Public holiday has been declared in all Punjab government offices, boards, corporations and educational institutions of Punjab located in Punjab and Chandigarh. The holiday has also been declared under section 25 of Negotiable Instrument Act 1881.