Guwahati: All preparations are afoot for smooth conduct of bye-election in 99-Majuli Legislative Assembly to be held on March 7.
The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Assam has completed all arrangements for the conduct of the ensuing by-election in a free, fair, safe and peaceful manner, said a statement.
To keep a strong vigil on law and order, expenditure etc., the Election Commission of India has already appointed Election Observers. Further, to attract the citizens for casting their votes and to strictly follow COVID protocol in the polling stations, an awareness campaign is being conducted under SVEEP, it said.
As a major push for conducting free and fair elections, live monitoring and webcasting have been arranged by the CEO, Assam for monitoring of poll day proceedings as per ECE’s direction. Webcasting will be done in all the 203 polling stations (PS).
Out of which 164 are main PS and 39 are auxiliary PS. Through webcasting, the Election Commission of India, Chief Electoral Officer and District Election Officers will be able to monitor the polling process at PS, live on the polling day.
On the other hand, half section Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) is deployed at each polling station location for security measures to ensure a conducive atmosphere for the smooth conduct of the election.
In the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, ECI has taken every possible precautionary measure to ensure that all the polling stations follow COVID-19 safety protocols strictly for the safety of the voters and the election officials.
Each and every polling station will be sanitized and the facility of thermal scanning, hand sanitizers, face masks are also made available at the polling stations.
In total, 3 candidates are in the fray for polls. There are total 1, 33,227 electors in the poll-going constituency. Out of these, 67,819 are male electors and 65,408 are female.
Apart from these, there are also 400 service voters. There are 2,965 general electors between 18-19 years age, 1,340 above 80 years of age and 400 PwD electors in the constituency.
Moreover, to ensure an inclusive election, the option of postal ballot facility is extended to the senior citizens above the age of 80 years, PwDs, COVID-19 suspect or affected persons, in addition to the persons employed in essential services.
Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) like drinking water, waiting shed, toilet, adequate arrangement for lighting, wheelchairs for PwD electors are made available at all the polling stations.
Arrangements like transport facilities for elderly people, assistance from volunteers to PwDs and senior citizens are arranged at the polling stations.
It may be mentioned here that Mobile app-Divyaang Sarathi Nirvachan may be used by the PwD voters for opting for transportation by registering online.
During this Assembly Bye-Election – 2022, a total of 812 polling personnel will be engaged and a total of 203 Ballot Units (BUs); 203 Control Unit (CUs) and 203 VVPATs will be used.
Sufficient numbers of polling personnel, BUs, CUs and VVPATs are kept in reserve to be deployed in case of any eventualities.
Chief Electoral Officer, Nitin Khade has urged all concerned to cast their vote in the ensuing by-election.