Ludhiana district on top with 2,078 poll permissions

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, May 25

Ludhiana district has topped Punjab with the maximum requests for permission to hold various election campaign-related activities by political parties and Independent candidates for the General Election, scheduled for June 1 in the state.

Election Commission of India (ECI) data has revealed that in Punjab, as many as 12,583 permission requests have been received, of which 9,616 (76.42 per cent) have been accepted while 1,656 requests (13.16 per cent) have been rejected for various reasons. Another 696 requests (5.53 per cent) were in the process of being accepted; the remaining 615 requests (4.88 per cent) have been cancelled as per the ECI guidelines.

Sharing these details, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C, told The Tribune that the ECI has ensured a level playing field for all political parties and candidates for the Lok Sabha elections by accepting, rejecting and cancelling the permission requests in the minimum possible time by following the guidelines.

Divulging the nature of permission requests, Sibin said 10 of the total 20 requests received to get permissions for air balloons were approved, 144 of 197 for door-to-door canvassing, 25 of 45 for use of helicopters and helipads, 9 of 19 for use of loudspeakers, 555 of 687 for opening temporary party offices, 59 of 79 for pamphlet distribution, 54 of 110 for use of video vans, 2,083 of 2,528 for holding meetings with the use of loudspeakers, 279 of 338 for holding meetings without loudspeakers, 2,653 of 3,188 for holding street corner meetings with use of loudspeakers, 542 of 731 for displaying banners and flags, 1,228 of 1,628 for displaying posters, hoardings and use of uni-poles, 250 of 371 for permits of vehicles to be used for canvassing, 118 of 234 for permits of vehicles to be used intra-district, 759 of 1,231 for use of vehicles with loudspeakers, and 174 of the total 257 permission requests received for use of vehicles within the parliamentary constituency were accepted.

Reiterating his commitment for conducting free, fair, smooth, peaceful and transparent elections, the CEO said all preparations have been completed to ensure a level playing field for the political parties and candidates in the fray.

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