Assam Panchayat Polls: Come out in large numbers to vote, Observer to voters
Election Observer for Hailakandi district, has appealed to the voters to come out in large numbers for exercising their franchise in the Assam Panchayat polls.
Hailakandi
Election Observer for Hailakandi district, Nirmal Kanti Debnath has appealed to the people to come out in large numbers for exercising their franchise in the Panchayat election to strengthen the edifice of democracy.
‘I urge the people of the district to come out in large numbers to cast their votes in a free, fair and impartial manner to further strengthen the edifice of our democratic polity, ” he said.
Debnath said the voters can cast their votes in their respective polling stations on the day of polling from 7 am to 3 pm.
The Election Observer said the voters can cast their votes by producing any one of the documents such as electoral photo identity card (EPIC), extract of electoral rolls with photo, passport, driving licence, bank passbook, Aadhaar card, service identity card, pensioner identity card, PAN card and MGNREGA job card. “In case of a student elector, identity card issued by school, college, university authorities will be accepted as a document,” he added.
Debnath also appealed to the voters not to take the help of any political party or candidate for conveyance while coming to the polling station.
Besides Debnath, Surajit Sonowal has also been appointed as Election Observer for Hailakandi district. Both of them have been closely monitoring the election meetings to see whether there is any violation of model code of conduct (MCC), inspected the arrangements being made at the polling stations and strong room set up at the Government VM HS School. They also visited some sensitive areas and interacted with the residents there. The election observers have also been overseeing the functioning of different cells constituted by the district administration for the smooth conduct of the polls as well as distribution of polling materials to the polling personnel.
Meanwhile, polling personnel have started moving two days ahead of the election to the interior and far-flung areas of the district, particularly in areas close to the inter-state border with Mizoram. 620 presiding and polling officials have been engaged for the purpose.
Security has been tightened across the district with checking being carried out at various points. Superintendent of Police Mohneesh Mishra disclosed that tight security measures are in place across the district for free and fair election.
Adequate forces are being deployed across the district along with companies of central armed forces, state armed personnel and the police. “There is sufficient force for conducting smooth election,” said Mishra.
Close vigil is being kept along the inter-state border with Mizoram on the southern side.
77 non-ACS officers have been appointed as executive magistrate by the Personnel (A) Department, Government of Assam on Tuesday to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of polls in the district. These officials have been engaged either as zonal or sector officers.
Election will take place on December 9 and counting of votes on December 12. Voting will be held between 7 am and 3 pm on Sunday at 626 polling stations. There are 3,87,132 electorates, of whom 2,13,309 are males and 1,73,823 women. Altogether 3,220 candidates are in the fray – 80 for ZPM, 345 for GPP, 335 for APM and 2,460 for GPM.
The day of polling has been declared as a paid holiday in all factories, plantations, shops and commercial establishments, establishment or amusements, contractors’ establishments, firms and such other industries, workshops, commercial and business establishments and banking institutions to enable the workers and employees to cast their votes. An order to this effect was issued by the Labour Welfare Department, Government of Assam on Friday.
