Following the norms of the Election Commission, Ranchi district administration has decided to give equal weightage to all the political parties in placing their poll related advertisements. The decision was taken after observing the maximum number of hoardings of a national party across the city on Thursday.
According to deputy commissioner cum district electoral officer Vinay Kumar Choubey, every advertisement agency under Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) will have to take permission from the administration before displaying hoarding of a particular political party.
“The advertisement agencies approached by political parties will have to seek permission before displaying the hoarding. We will sanction the permission within 24 hours of their request. Also, we have decided to prepare an equitable structure for advertisement display of all the political parties,” he told the media persons.
Notably, there are around 1500 hoardings within the city. Choubey said 250 hoardings among the mentioned number of hoardings will be used to campaigns under the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme.
Meanwhile, RMC deputy chief executive officer Om Prakash Shah informed that the decision is implemented from Friday itself for the convenience of political parties as well as ad agencies.
There are around 28 advertisement agencies registered under RMC. “The agencies violating the guidelines of election commission will be penalized under the People’s Representation Act,” Shah added.
As far as the security of the state capital is concerned a central pool for buses carrying central forces personnel will be made in the city.
Interestingly, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) Electronic Voting Machine will be used in the Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke constituencies for casting votes. In Mandar, Tamar, Silli and Khijri constituencies the older version EVMs will be used.
Choubey said there are around 20 lakh voters at Ranchi district including Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Silli and Khijri constituencies. The voting hours at Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke is scheduled from 7 am to 5 pm on December 9. The voting time at Silli and Khijri on the same date is from 7 am to 3am. While, at Mandar and Tamar where the polling is scheduled on December 2, the voting process will be carried from 7 am to 3 pm. Choubey has called a meeting of booth level officers of Tamar and Mandar constituencies on November 17. The voting slips will be provided to the residents by November 22 in the first round.
Friday was the last date of making nomination for the second phase. Over 14 candidates have filed their nominations from these two constituencies.
Around 20 lakh voters will be casting votes from Ranchi district. The district administration had managed the photos of all the voters in its electoral list. “More 1800 voters have been added in the electoral list of Ranchi district in past one week. They will be distributed the voter slips within 10 days,” Choubey said. Choubey has also deployed returning officers for the five constituencies at Ranchi. “The state capital has around 2305 polling booths of which 10 percent are highly sensitive, 40 percent are sensitive and remaining are of general category,” said the deputy commissioner.