The filing of nominations for the November 9 Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh began on Monday but not a single nomination was filed on the first day.
A spokesperson of Election Department here said that no nomination was filed on the first day of filing of nominations for Vidhan Sabha Elections-2017.
There will be a straight contest between Congress and the BJP in Haryana. As both the major political parties are yet to announce their candidates, no nominations could be filed on the first day, an official added.
The last date for filing nominations is October 23, scrutiny of papers is scheduled to be taken up on October 24, the last day for withdrawal of nominations is October 26, while polling will be held on November 9.
Of the 7,521 polling booths in the state, 136 (two each in the 68 constituencies) would only have women officials, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pushpender Rajput said.
The counting of votes would be taken up on December 18 and the Model Code of Conduct would remain in force till December 20. Of the 68 Assembly segments in the state, 17 were reserved for the scheduled castes and three for scheduled tribes.
The total number of registered voters in the state was 49,13,888 and the figure was likely to go up once the pending cases for registration of voters were disposed of.
Electronic voting machines (EVMs), connected to voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines, would be used in all the 7,521 polling booths. VVPAT machines would be used for the first time in the Himachal Assembly polls and they would enable a voter to see the name and election symbol of the candidate he has voted for for seven seconds.
Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer, Pushpendra Rajput on Monday asked telecom service providers to ensure better and uninterrupted telecom services in the State upto booth level especially in the shadow areas of all assembly constituencies for smooth conduct of election.
Presiding over a meeting of BSNl and other telecom service providers here, he asked them to coordinate with the all District Election Officers (DEOs) as to make it convenient to work out modalities for uninterrupted communication during poll.
He also asked them to prepare polling station wise connectivity status and temporary connectivity for broadband in shadow areas in coordination with the DEOs. He said that BSNl Officers to issue instructions and take appropriate action to make all telephone connections functional and uninterrupted in rural and far flung areas of the state.
The officers of various telecom services apprised that telecom connectivity in 35 shadow polling stations out of identified 141 shadow polling stations have been provided while in rest of polling stations, it will be completed, in time bound manner.