Over 10 lakh voters in district to cast ballot

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 5

The District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Ghanshyam Thori, today released the final electoral roll of Bathinda on completion of a special drive, as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.

The total number of voters in the district now stands at 10,01,311, including 25,782 new voters out of which 19,682 are 18-19-year-old.

In the presence of representatives of political parties at the District Administrative Complex, Thori said as per the final electoral rolls for the six constituencies in the district, the total male voters were 5,33,422 and female 4,67,871, besides 18 belonging to the third gender.

He said in 90-Rampura Phul constituency, the number of total voters were 1,56,674, 91-Bhucho Mandi-(SC) 1,77,832, 92-Bathinda (Urban) 2,04,002, 94-Bathinda (Rural) (SC) 1,53,483, 94-Talwandi Sabo 1,48,317 and 95-Maur 1,61,003.

The District Election Officer also held a meeting with the representatives of political parties and bankers to apprise them of the directives of the Election Commission of India vis-à-vis the model code of conduct.

He urged them to extend cooperation for completion of free, fair, peaceful and credible polls for the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

He also asked them to strictly follow the directions of the commission.

Members of the Congress party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and CPI (M) participated in the meeting.

IT applications introduced

Briefing about the new IT applications introduced by the commission through its website ceopunjab.nic.in, the District Election Officer said three new applications — Samadhan, Suvidha and Sugam — had been launched to facilitate the general public, voters, political parties and candidates.

Elaborating on Samadhan, the District Election Officer said the application had been introduced for public grievance redressal and monitoring system.

Thori said the commission had provided a common platform for all complaints, grievances, concerns and suggestions lodged by any member of the public and other stakeholders like political parties, candidates and civil society groups.

Suwidha application will facilitate the people as a single window system for giving election-related permissions or clearances within 24 hours.

He said through this application, candidates and political parties could apply for permissions for meetings, rallies, vehicles, temporary election offices and loudspeakers at a single location where back-end convergence of various authorities/departments would also be available.

He said this system was also put in place at every returning officer level in each sub-division.

Thori added that through this application, in case of permissions for helicopter usage/landing and use of helipads, a plea would have to be submitted at least 36 hours in advance.

He said the Sugam application had been created for the vehicle management system.

Sugam will provide a facility of issuance of requisition letters for vehicles, capturing of vehicle details with address, mobile number and bank details of owner and driver, besides transfer of vehicles from one district to another, he added.

A 24X7 toll-free complaint cell-cum-helpline had also been launched with number 1800-180-2332 where people and political parties can put forward all election-related queries, the District Election Officer said.

Thori accompanied by Assistant Commissioner (under training) Abhijeet Kaplish said total 1,051 polling stations would be established in the district, out of which 324 would be in urban areas and 727 in rural areas.

Answering a query regarding the security measures, Thori said four companies of central para-military were about to reach the district while more companies would come in the coming days.

He said security on the district border with Haryana would also be beefed up.

Feedback to voters

The District Election Officer also informed that the new method of providing feedback to voters by the commission, Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), would be adopted for Bathinda (Urban) and Bathinda (Rural) constituencies for the first time.

He said the VVPAT would be attached with every electronic voting machine, which verifies the casting of votes with printed slip.

Returning officers

Thori said six returning officers had been deputed for all constituencies. For 90-Rampura Phul, Dr Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, SDM, Rampura Phul is the returning officer; Rahul Chaba, Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) for 91-Bhucho; Sakshi Sawhney, SDM, Bathinda, for Bathinda (Urban); Anil Garg, ACA (BDA) for 93-Bathinda (Rural) (SC); Subhash Kumar Khatak, SDM, Talwandi Sabo, for 94-Talwandi Sabo; and Latif Ahmed, SDM, Maur, for 95-Maur.

He said assistant returning officer-1 and asssistant returning officer-2 had also been deputed for these constituencies. The photograph of every candidate will be displayed on the electronic voting machine, along with his/her name, for the facilitation of voters.

Monitoring teams constituted

For constant surveillance and monitoring the election process and all exercises, 10 teams have been constituted in the district. The District Election Officer said media certification and monitoring committee, static surveillance teams with three members in each constituency, flying squad, video surveillance teams, video viewing team, accounting team, assistant expenditure observers, complaint cell-cum-control room, liason officer and drug committee at district level and sub-divisional level have been constituted.

Applications launched for convenience of people, candidates

• Briefing about the new IT applications introduced by the commission through its website ceopunjab.nic.in, the District Election Officer said three new applications — Samadhan, Suvidha and Sugam — had been launched to facilitate the general public, voters, political parties and candidates
• The District Election Officer said the Samadhan application had been introduced for public grievance redressal and monitoring system
• Suwidha application will facilitate the people as a single window system for giving election-related permissions/clearances within 24 hours 
• Sugam will provide a facility for issuance of requisition letters for vehicles, capturing of vehicle details with address, mobile number and bank details of owner and driver, besides transfer of vehicles from one district to another, he added