District Election Officer Narsing Pawar reviews poll preparations under Tezpur Election District

A Correspondent

Tezpur: District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Narsing Pawar reviewed the poll preparedness under Tezpur Election District in a meeting held at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s office recently where General Observer for Sonitpur district, Dr. Saroj Kumar and Police Observer B. Malla Reddy were also present.

The officers in charge of various cells who were present in the meeting apprised the DEO about the progress of works under the various cells. So far two rounds of trainings have been imparted to the presiding and first polling officers along with zonal and sector officers. The second round of training for second and third polling officers will be held on March 31. A hands-on practical demonstration on the functioning of EVM/VVPATs was also imparted to the polling personnel. The group training of polling personnel after the second-level randomization has been scheduled for April 6 and April 7. Moreover, a briefing of all micro-observers was also carried out by master trainers and they were informed about their role during the elections.

On the other hand, the first-level of randomization of EVMs and VVPATs for allocation of assembly constituencies under Tezpur election district was done on March 17. Meanwhile, 16 per cent ballot units and control units and 26 per cent of VVPAT machines have been kept in reserve over and above the required number of 1,118 against each polling station in the district.

In order to ensure free and fair elections in the district and keep an eye on any possible violation of the Model Code of Conduct, three Static Surveillance Teams, Flying Squad teams and Video Surveillance teams have been allocated to each of the five assembly constituencies falling under Tezpur election district under the supervision of the respective Circle Officers. These squads are carrying out regular checking in the areas under their respective jurisdiction. Expenditure monitoring and video viewing teams have also been set up assembly constituency wise.

Earlier, a meeting with representatives of various political parties was also held after the process of scrutiny of nomination papers recently where issues related to the Model Code of Conduct, expenditure limit for candidates, rules of campaigning, deployment of agents on polling and counting days, submission of expenditure statements for scrutiny, among others were discussed.

The administration sought cooperation of all political parties and public representatives for smooth conduct of the upcoming polls. Additional Deputy Commissioner KK Sarma explained the provisions of the Suvidha portal to the candidates and representatives of political parties present.

Also read: Assam news