The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Punjab Dr. S. Karuna Raju today took stock of the security measures by checking the strong rooms set up at Rayat Bahra institute and Multi Skill Development Centre (MSDC). He was accompanied by the Deputy Commissioner cum District Electoral Officer Apneet Riyait and SSP Dhruman H. Nimble.In an informal interaction with the media afterwards at the Deputy Commissioner's office, the CEO said that a strong room for 6 assembly constituencies has been set up at Rayat-Bahra institute while at the MSDC a single strong room has been established for one assembly constituency and as per the directions of ECI, security protocols are being followed with the deployment of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). He also mentioned that in order to keep strict vigil over the strong rooms 24x7, CCTV cameras and the LED screens have been installed. For the candidates, special arrangements have been made outside the strong rooms by installing LED in a pandal, said CEO adding he has visited strong rooms at Rupnagar and Mohali and would tour other districts also, added Dr. Raju.
Divulging further, the CEO said that adherence to Covid protocols is being ensured. He also mentioned that till now, over 22000 complaints regarding violation of the Model Code of Conduct have been received from across the State out of which 16000 have been received via C-Vigil, 3000 through toll free number 1950 and the rest through other modes. More than 3000 FIRs have been registered in connection with the violation of the MCC with 33 registered on polling day itself. Most of the cases pertain to narcotics and excise. Answering a question, he made it clear that the EVMs are fully secure. He also added that the polls have been conducted in an impartial and fair manner and the counting process would also be conducted on March 10 amid full security.The Deputy Commissioner cum District Electoral Officer Apneet Riyait said that the strong rooms for the Vidhan Sabha constituencies viz. Mukerian, Dasuya, Urmur, Hoshiarpur, Chabbewal and Garhshanker have been set up at Rayat Bahra institute while the strong room for Shamchaurasi has been set up at Multi Skill Development Center. All the strong rooms are checked on daily basis and it is ensured that the security arrangements are rock solid in accordance with the directions of the ECI. Among others present on the occasion included Additional Deputy Commissioner (Urban Development) Himanshu Jain, SP Ashwani Kumar and Election Tehsildar Harminder Singh.