District Electoral Officer, Mrs Aashika Jain said that the Mohali Administration is committed to free, fair and transparent elections in the district and a round-the-clock vigil is being maintained by Nine Flying Squad Teams and Nine Static Surveillance Teams. Addressing the media along with SSP Dr Sandeep Garg, ADCs Viraj S Tidke and Damanjit Singh Mann to brief the arrangements done by the District Administration, she said that to check the violation of the Model Code of Conduct a dedicated control room is being run in the district where as many as 53 complaints have been received through cVigil app, a strong tool in the hand of voters where one can shot the complaint of code violation by use of this mobile application.
Out of these, 35 were found correct where the action taken report has been submitted to the CEO Punjab while 18 complaints have been dropped at the ARO level due to other reasons. Similarly, the 24x7 control cell, a toll-free number 1950 has got 43 complaints, out of which report of action taken submitted to CEO Punjab in 33 cases while 05 has been dropped at the ARO level besides action on another 05 in progress, she added.
SSP Dr Sandeep Garg added that to maintain law and order Nine interstate nakas at critical points are in progress in coordination with the District Administration. As a confidential building measure, patrolling is continued in the District with the help of a company of the Central Armed Police Force.
Besides, the district Police has registered 52 FIRs under the NDPS act with the arrest of 72 accused and recovery to the amount of Rs 2.31 crore as per the market value of the drugs including Poppy husk, Opium etc. said SSP Garg by adding that 20 accused have been arrested in 13 FIRs registered under Arms act with the recovery of 16 Pistols, 01 Rifle, 04 Desi Katta etc.
Under the Excise Act, 50 cases have been registered with the arrest of 54 accused by making a recovery of 2376 litres to the tune of Rs 14.52 lakh in terms of financial value.The District Electoral Officer, Mrs Aashika Jain while apprising the numbers of vulnerable polling booths said that a total of 37 locations having 119 booths have been identified so far in District.
The number may increase or decrease as per the meeting scheduled with the Observers in the coming days, she added. She said that the district has witnessed an addition of 37498 voters since 27.10.2023, the date from which special summary revision of electoral rolls was started. Similarly, a total of 24861 voters have been registered since 22.01.2024.
The District Electoral Officer said that several SVEEP activities have been done in the district to make the voters aware towards their voting rights. In the coming days, a mega sports event is being slated at PCA stadium under the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation programme.
To face the hot weather conditions on the day of polling, ACs/Coolers/Fans, Shades/Shamiana, Sitting Arrangement, Chhabeels of Sweet water/Drinking water, ORS, Medical Camps/Emergency Services would be arranged at all polling stations to provide a conducive environment to the voters.
She further said that the district has a total of 806500 voters with segregation of 422576 into male voters, 383886 female voters and 38 third gender voters, so far. Out of these, 6218 voters in the age of 85+ and 6808 PwD voters have been identified to whom the postal ballot/free transportation to the booth services are to be provided.
Interestingly, the district has 19193 first-time voters this time (in the age of 18-19 years). Similarly, each constituency is to have 10 Model Polling Booths, One each Pink Polling Booth (female staff managed), PwD staff managed booth, and youth staff managed booth in the district, she further added.
A Medical board has been formed to consider the exemption requests of the staff put on polling duties to see whether their problems are genuine or not. The medical board comprises a Gynecologist, an Orthopedic, Pediatrician and a Medicine Specialist.
The District Election Officer while briefing about the important dates of the Election Schedule notified by the concerned Returning Officers, said that the candidates desirous to contest from 06-Anandpur Sahib Parliamentary Constituency (having areas of Assembly Constituencies 52-Kharar and 53-SAS Nagar) can submit his/her nominations with Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Roopnagar while others who want to contest from 13-Patiala Parliamentary Constituency (having area of Assembly Constituency 112-Derabassi) can submit their nominations with Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer, Patiala.
The election schedule is as under:
1. Issue of Notification: 07.05.2024
2. Last Date for Filing Nominations: 14.05.2024
3. Scrutiny of Nominations: 15.05.2024
4. Last Date for Withdrawal of Candidature: 17.05.2024
5. Date of Poll: 01.06.2024
6. Counting of Votes: 04.06.2024