Indian Political News
EC prepares for LS polls in the Northeast
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- Parent Category: Political News
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 06 February 2019 15:35
EC prepares for LS polls in the Northeast
With weeks to go for the announcement of the 17th Lok Sabha election dates, the Election Commission has started preparations in the North-Eastern states, a top election official said on Tuesday.
Tripura CEO Sriram Taranikanti said, "The Election Commission is interacting with chief electoral officers (CEOs) and other concerned officials through video conferencing regularly. But it is yet to inform us about its possible visit to the region”.
"On Monday, Deputy Election Commissioner (in-charge of the North-Eastern states) Sudeep Jain interacted with the Chief executives, District Magistrates and superintendents of all districts of Tripura, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur and Nagaland through video conferencing and took an overview of the preparations," he said.
Another Election Commission official, now visiting the Northeast, said that except for Mizoram and Assam, on January 1, 2019, electoral rolls with photographs had already been published in Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
"The Election Commission officials are training Returning Officers (District Magistrates) and Assistant Returning Officers (Additional District Magistrates or equivalent ranks) in Delhi in a phased manner. The technical facets of the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) and the VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails) are also being shared by officials and technical experts."
The official informed that during the two-day meeting with the Commission on January 11 and 12, in Delhi, the Chief Executives of all the states made comprehensive presentations on their state of readiness.
Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer Ashish Kundra said that the final voter list will be published on February 22.
The Election Commission had set up 15 special polling stations at Kanhmun village along the Mizoram-Tripura border, allowing 12,018 voters among over 35,000 tribal immigrants to vote in the November 28 Assembly polls in Mizoram.
Officials said the Commission may announce the election schedule sometime in March, while the polls are likely to take place in April and May.
To ensure that electioneering does not disturb students, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced the schedule for the class X and class XII exams.
While the class X exams will start on February 21 and end on March 29, the class XII exams will be held between February 15 and April 3.
