SRINAGAR: Chief Electoral Officer, Shantmanu, on Sunday convened a meeting here to review preparedness and security arrangements for forthcoming by-polls for 3-Anantnag Parliamentary seat, an official spokesman said
The meeting was informed that the constituency is spread over 4 revenue districts, 5 police districts and 16 assembly segments with a total of 1327638 voters, including 1495 service voters, for which 1635 polling stations in 1146 locations have been designated.
During the meeting, the CEO was briefed that for smooth, free and fair conduct of the elections, 16 AROs have been designated, while as nodal officers, zonal and sectoral magistrates and teams for overall supervision of elections have been constituted for all the four districts in the constituency.
The concerned DEOs detailed the locations of strong rooms, collection and distribution centres and other issues related to elections.
With respect to EPIC coverage, it was given that Kulgam district has achieved 96.19 percent, while as Pulwama, Shopian and Anantnag have achieved 91 per cent, 91.77 percent and 95.35 percent respectively.
Regarding the security arrangements, DIG South Kashmir gave a detailed description of the security arrangements put in place for successful and peaceful conduct of the elections.
Speaking on the occasion, the CEO directed the Returning Officer to constitute nodal officers at the parliamentary constituency level so that better coordination is ensured. He also directed for giving magisterial powers to the magistrates associated with the elections.
Shantmanu directed the RO to ensure the submission of daily reports especially the law and order reports for which the PCR Anantnag was entrusted to compile the details from all the districts for further submission to the Chief Electoral Office.
Shantmanu stressed for coordination between civil administration and security agencies for the successful and transparent conduct of the elections. Besides, he called for early preparation of communication and transport plans at respective district levels.
Meanwhile, the CEO directed Nodal Officer SVEEP to conduct awareness camps on regular basis to inform people of voting rights and about importance and power of exercising franchise.
Pertinently, last date for filing of nomination papers for the constituency is March 27 and last date of withdrawal of nominations is March 29. Polling for the Anantnag Parliamentary seat is April 12, while as date of counting, as per the notification is April 15, 2017.
District Election Officers of Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian, DIG South Kashmir, COs of CRPF, officers of the Police Department, AEROs, Nodal Officers, and other concerned attended the meeting.
Earlier in the day, District Election Officer Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, convened a meeting with the representatives of various political parties to brief them about the guidelines of the forthcoming Lok Sabha bye-elections.
The DEO sought cooperation of the representatives for smooth, free and fair conduct of the elections. He apprised them about various guidelines of the model code of conduct and asked them to adhere to it strictly. He advised them not to indulge in any defamatory personal remarks or issue any provocative statements which would vitiate the law and order scenario.
He also discussed the relocation of 5 polling stations in the district and apprised them about the reasons of change, which was well taken by the representatives of political parties.
On the occasion, the representatives put forth various suggestions before the DEO for making election process impartial and transparent. The DEO assured the representatives that the issues would be looked into and necessary directions, if needed, will be issued at the earliest.
