Campaigning for the State Assembly elections in Haryana came to an at 6 pm for polls to be held on October 15.
Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Shrikant Walgad, said that no party or candidate would now telecast any advertisement or do any publicity on the electronic media. Besides, rallies and public meetings related to elections too have been banned.
He said constant vigil is being kept on every person and vehicles in all border areas of Haryana. liquor vends in the State and those falling in the radius of three kilometers of the border of the State will remain closed until completion of the election procedure. “Teams of flying squads are doing patrolling with promptness to complete the election process peacefully”, Walgad said.
Polling parties would leave for their respective booths with publicity material on October 14. Mockpoll would be organized in front of agents of candidates from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. on October 15 and after that polling will be held from 7 a.m. till 6 p.m. Only such voters as have entered the polling station up to 6 pm would be allowed to cast their vote.
Walgad said 2,700 sensitive booths had been identified in the state. Video cameras and CCTV cameras would be installed, web-casting would be done or micro observers would be deputed at all polling booths for monitoring the election process. Observers have been deployed to deal with the complaints of the people in almost all constituencies. Besides, para-military forces and Home Guards have been deputed along with the Haryana Police for peaceful conduct of elections.
The CEO said 24,000 ballot units and 18,320 control units would be used during elections in the state. There are 30 Assembly constituencies where more than 15 candidates each are contesting and two EVMs each would be installed in these segments. One EVM each would be installed in the remaining 60 Assembly constituencies, he added.
During the polling, no party or candidate would be allowed to sit near the polling booths and appeal to people to cast their vote in favour of a particular candidate or party, Walgad added.
More than 1.63 crore voters will exercise their right to vote to elect their representatives during the assembly polls.
Walgad said to ensure smooth conduct of elections, there would be about 70,000 polling officials in addition to 50,000 security personnel including 80 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force. The Election Commission of India has posted 46 General Observes, 21 Election Expenditure Observers, five Police Observers and also Micro Observers to keep a vigilant eye.
For the first time Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail is being used at six assembly constituencies of Thanesar, Karnal, Panipat City, Sonipat, Rohtak and Gurgaon. In case any candidate do not like any of the contesting candidates, he can press the button of NOTA to exercise his right to vote.
48 checkposts set up at Haryana-UP border
Chandigarh: To ensure free and fair elections, 48 checkposts have being set up at the Haryana-UP border for the elections to be held on October 15. According to the directives issued by election commission, checkposts have been set up in six bordering districts for the assembly elections to be held in Haryana and the bypoll to be held in Kairana assembly seat on October 15, Subdivisional Magistrate and Returning Officer Kairana Suresh Kumar Mishra said. The checkposts started functioning today in Shamli, Saharanpur, Baghpat, Gautam Budhnagar, Mathura and Aligarh and will be in place till October 15, he added. Meanwhile, four checkposts were established at Haryana border in Shamli district including two at Yamuna bridge at Kairana, one on Panipat-Khatima highway and another at Bidoli-Yamuna bridge on the highway. Mishra said in total 16 checkposts have been established in the inter-district border at Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and Shamli district.
Oct 15 a public holiday
Chandigarh: Haryana Government has notified October 15, the day of poll for Assembly Election as public holiday in all government, semi government offices, educational institutions, Boards and Corporations of Haryana Government in the State, at Chandigarh and at Delhi for casting their vote.
An official spokesman said that it is also notified that the employees of various factories, shops and private establishments located in Haryana, who are registered voters for the said General Election may also be allowed to take leave (paid) under Section 135-B of the Representative of the People Act, 1951 for the same purpose. It would also be observed a holiday under section 25 of the Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 in the State, he added.
EC teams seize over `2.85 cr cash, liquor in Haryana
Chandigarh: Election Commission-appointed flying squads have seized over `2.85 crore cash and more than 1.75 lakh litres of illicit liquor being transported to poll-bound Haryana, apparently to lure voters in the run up to Assembly polls. According to latest data, `2.85 crore cash has been seized by EC-appointed surveillance teams in the state while over 130 kgs of gold and silver ware have been seized since the poll dates were announced. 28,800 cans of beer, 1,155 kgs of ammonium nitrate used for making crude explosives and 6,320 kgs of various types of drugs have been sized so far in the state, the data said. In its effort to curb the use of black money and illegal funds in the elections, the EC has deployed officers drawn from central revenue services like the Income Tax and Customs and Excise departments and those from the state government in all the Assembly seats of Haryana where polling will be held on October 15.