Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Mrs Aashika Jain said that there will be a zero tolerance policy towards the use of unfair means during Lok Sabha Elections-2024 in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district. Addressing the media about the preparations of Elections in the district SAS Nagar, she said that as per the directions of the Election Commissioner of India, the district administration is fully committed to conducting free, fair and transparent elections.
She said that the use of money and muscle power will strictly be dealt and the accused will be sent behind bars immediately. She said that Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district comprises three state legislative assembly constituencies, out of which 52-Kharar and 53-SAS Nagar fall in 06-Anandpur Sahib Parliamentary Constituency while 112-Derabassi falls in 13-Patiala Parliamentary Constituency.
These constituencies have a total of 818 polling booths and 7,90,499 voters. Out of these, 4,14,276 are male voters, 3,76,187 are female voters and 36 third gender voters. Anyone who attains the age of 18 years on April 1, 2024, can enrol him/herself by the 5th of May, she further added.
To monitor the district due to the sharing of its interstate boundaries with UT and State Capital Chandigarh and Haryana, the district has 03 operational Flying Squad Teams in each constituency to keep vigil on the election process. Similarly, the district has also 04 Static Surveillance Teams in each constituency to be made operational from the day of starting filing of Nominations.
Apart from that district has a 24x7 operational Grievances Cell having a toll-free number of 1950 and email ID [email protected]. Similarly, another online complaint mechanism related to violation of the model code of conduct is also in place as a cVigil app. One can download it on his/her mobile and upload the photograph or video of the MCC violation which would be disposed of within 100 minutes of handing over the complaint to the concerned team.
Besides, the Model Code Of Conduct Enforcement Team, Expenditure Monitoring Team, Electoral Ballot Paper Team, and Permissions Committee have also been made functional to keep a close check on various ongoing activities in the district. Parties can get online permissions by logging on to the Suvidha app, she added.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Dr Sandeep Garg while throwing light on the elaborative security arrangements made by the district police, said that taking in view the interstate border sharing of the Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Nakas have already been in place to check the inflow of cash, liquor and drugs. Besides, the non-bailable warrants are being executed to arrest the accused and round up the POs.
He said that the district has about 9000 licensed weapons that had to be deposited with the police stations or arms dealers. Out of these, 1500 have been collected and the rest of the arms license holders have been urged to deposit without further delay. He categorically said that arms like air guns would also be deposited barring the exempted categories.
He cleared that the use of private bouncers etc. would be treated as muscle power because all the candidates would be provided with adequate security cover by the police. He said that Excise and Police have joint teams on each Nakas to check the influx of illegal goods that may be used to hamper the election process.
He said a company from the Central Armed Police Force has already arrived in the district and has been deployed as per the need for the patrolling, flag march, area domination etc. He warned the anti-social and bad elements to keep away from the election process otherwise they would not be spared by the police.
He reiterated the district police’s commitment to conduct a peaceful election process by maintaining law and order. Additional Deputy Commissioner (G) Viraj S Tidke said that to keep check on media to check misleading information, fake news and paid news (print, electronic and social), a media monitoring cell is already working where round-the-clock monitoring is going on.
He said that any political advertisement in social media needs pre-certification at the level of a Committee set up under the chairpersonship of the Returning officer of the parliamentary constituency. The Print media advertisements meant to be inserted in the newspapers in the last 48 hours of polling also need certification, he added.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Rural Development) Sonam Chaudhary said that the violation of MCC would not be tolerated and a meeting in this regard with the political parties has already been conducted on the previous day.