Punjab Chief Electoral Officer V.K. Singh today said that complaint regarding notification declaring Talwandi Sabo Vidhan Sabha seat vacant after resignation of MLA Mr. Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu has been forwarded to Election Commission of India for further decision. He said that the Secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha has telephonically informed that notification was not issued and the matter was referred to Advocate General office for legal opinion on some technical points.Interacting with media persons, the CEO informed that ECI has appointed 18 general, 18 expenditure and three police observers for Punjab and they would report on April 9, the last day of nominations. He said that in all 5 expenditure sensitive Lok Sabha constituencies namely Bathinda, Patiala, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur, 2 each general and expenditure observers would be deputed while the three police observers would be stationed at Bathinda, Patiala and Jalandhar. He said that dates of ECI team’s Punjab visit have not been yet finalized.
Mr. V.K.Singh revealed that till date a sum of Rs. 80 lac approximately (40 lac each by Flying squads and Static Surveillance teams) has been intercepted and all the cases have been referred to the Income Tax department for further enquiries. He said that at present 600 SST and FS teams along with 600 videography teams have been deputed throughout the state to check the flow of money, liquor or drugs etc.Replying a query, the CEO said that the Principal Secretary (Home) has been asked to enquire a complaint regarding providing police personnel to non entitled persons in Muktsar district.
He said that directions has been issued to Deputy Commissioners for making arrangement for counting at district headquarters only to reduce the need of deployment of more security personnel from polling to day of counting , which would be more than two weeks. He further said that two parallel enquiries have been marked to Principal Secretary (Rural development & Panchayats) and Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana after receiving a complaint against BDPO Ludhiana, which alleged that despite being a proclaimed offender he was appointed as ARO.The CEO informed that till date 1, 55, 000 licensed weapons have been deposited and district police chiefs have been asked to further expedite this campaign.