As the Election Commission of India set the ball rolling for Lok Sabha elections, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Karna Raju on Tuesday chaired a meeting with the representatives of all the political parties.
During the meeting, attended by the Additional CEOs Kavita Singh and Siban C, the representatives of the political parties were informed about various aspects of election process including the model code of conduct (MCoC), EVM-VVPAT awareness, paid news or Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) and the nomination process.
Besides, Raju also brought home other matters related to elections like the election expenditure monitoring and the tours of the ministers.
CEO said that Model Code has come into force with the announcement of election schedule and should be adhered to in the letter and spirit. It was informed that each candidate is permitted to make expenditure up to Rs 70 lakh subject to submission of a complete record of all the transactions to the concerned Returning Officer. Payments for all the transactions above Rs 10,000 are to be made by cheques, he added.
Detailing on monitoring of paid news and advertisements, Raju said that MCMCs have been constituted at the state and district level. “Certification is to be sought from the local MCMC before floating any publicity content. The Monitoring Committees will keep a vigil on all publicity activities of candidates or political parties. Advertisements on radio, print, electronic and social media, along with other methods of outdoor publicity and paid news, would be under their scrutiny,” he added.
The CEO informed the political parties regarding Form 26 and Form A&B in detail. “The affidavit in form 26 and form A&B have to be filed latest by 3 pm on the last date of filing nominations,” he said.
He made it clear that none of the columns should be left blank in the affidavit in Form 26, and affidavit complete in all respects, should be submitted latest by the time fixed for commencement of scrutiny of nominations.
“Failure to submit revised affidavit complete in all respects, even after reminder by RO, will be a ground for rejection of the nomination paper. It is also mandatory for the candidates to submit an attested copy of voter list bearing his name as the voter, at the time of filing the nomination,” he said.
During the meeting, the security features and availability of EVMs was explained and a live demo of EVM-VVPAT machines was given to dispel the doubts of the concerned.
REACHING OUT TO TRANSGENDERS
With just 507 transgenders registered as eligible voters in Punjab, the state poll panel is running special campaigns to reaching out to them to get them enrol.
The state Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju said that a special campaign was launched to reach out to deras and other places where the transgenders reside in order to register them as voters.
He maintained that though the number of transgenders or those belonging to the “third gender” is high, only a few have enrolled as voters. “But, as compared to the previous polls, the number of voters, who have declared themselves as transgenders, has increased considerably in the state,” he added.
In 2015, the number of transgender voters was 240.
ABOUT SEVEN LAKH FIRST-TIME VOTERS NOT REGISTERED
There are still 6,92,013 first-time eligible voters, who are yet to enrol themselves. Even as the CEO claimed that the state has seen a considerable rise in the number of young, first-time voters, about seven lakhs youths in the 18-19 age group are yet to register themselves as voters.
Raju said that a total of 2,55,887 youths in 18-19 age group have registered themselves as voters while in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, only around 65,000 persons in 18-19 age bracket, had got themselves registered as voters.
He said that as per the projected census, there are 9,47,900 persons who are in the age bracket of 18-19 in Punjab.
CEO said that special emphasis was also laid on registering non-resident Indians (NRIs) as voters. “I have been urging Punjabi diaspora through every possible medium to get themselves registered as NRI voters.
In comparison to 169 NRI voters in 2014, their strength has grown to 393 in Punjab,” he said.