Chandigarh, May 23, 2022 (Yes Punjab News)
Haryana State Election Commissioner (SEC), Sh. Dhanpat Singh while addressing a press conference here today said that elaborate arrangements have been made for the conduct of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections. An adequate police force will be deployed to maintain law and order at the polling stations and in sensitive and hyper-sensitive areas for conducting the elections.
Sh. Dhanpat Singh further shared that with the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force hence, no Officer or Official connected with the election work will be transferred till the completion of the election process. He further shared that the elections to the Faridabad Municipal Corporation and three other municipalities will be held later as the revision of the voters’ list is still in progress.
Divulging the details about the election programme, he said that the nominations will be filed from May 30 to June 4(except June 2, being a routine holiday), and the scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on June 6. The last date of withdrawal of candidature will be on June 7, 2022, from 11 am to 3 pm. The Election symbols will be allotted to the candidates on the same day, he informed.
“The poll in 28 Municipal Committees and 18 Municipal Councils would be held on June 19, 2022, from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. This time due to likelihood of extreme weather conditions, the polling time has been extended for one hour. If required the repolling would be done on June 21, 2022, said Sh. Dhanpat Singh”.
About 10000 polling personnel including ROS, AROS to be deployed for smooth conduct of these elections
Sh. Dhanpat Singh said that about 10000 polling personnel including ROS, and AROS. Supervisory Staff Presiding Officers, Polling Officers and other staff will be deployed for smooth conduct of these elections. Besides Police Deployment at sensitive and hyper sensitive booths, elaborate arrangements are being made for the conduct of elections in a free fair, transparent, and peaceful manner.
Adequate police force shall be deployed to maintain law and order at the polling stations and extra police force will be provided in sensitive and hypersensitive areas, he informed.
The expenditure limit of the contesting candidates revised
Sh Dhanpat Singh further stated that the expenditure limit of the contesting candidates, contesting the election of the seat of President and Members of Municipal Council and Committee has been revised. As per the revision, the election expenditure limit of the President, Municipal Committee has been fixed at Rs 10.5 lakh, which earlier was Rs. 10 lakh. Likewise, the election expenditure limit for the President, Municipal Council has been fixed at Rs. 16 lakh, which was earlier Rs. 15 lakh.
The election expenditure limit for Member Municipal Committee has been increased from Rs. 2.25 lakh to Rs. 2.50 lakh. The election expenditure limit for Member Municipal Council has been increased from Rs. 3.30 lakh to Rs. 3.50 lakh, informed, Sh. Dhanpat Singh.
Education and quantifications for contesting candidates
Sh. Dhanpat Singh shared that the required educational qualification for the candidate contesting elections in the unreserved category for President and member has been prescribed as class 10th pass (matriculation). For women and SC category contesting elections for President and for Members it has been prescribed as class VIII pass. Women candidates belonging to the SC category contesting for the post of President should have passed class VIII, while those contesting the elections for the post of Member should have passed class V.
Appointment of Election Observers
Sh. Dhanpat Singh stated that to conduct elections in a free, fair, transparent and peaceful manner, the State Election Commission will appoint senior IAS or HCS Officers as Election Observers, senior IPS or HPS officers as Police Observers for the maintenance of law and order and senior officers of Excise and Taxation Department as Expenditure Observers in the Municipal Committees and Councils concerned. These Observers shall keep reporting to the State Election Commission from time to time.
Contesting candidates are required to maintain an account of election expenditure and submit the same within 30 days
Sh. Dhanpat Singh further said that all the contesting candidates are required to maintain an account of election expenditure and submit the same within 30 days from the date of declaration of election result to the Deputy Commissioner or an officer authorized by the State Election Commission, failing which the defaulting candidate will be liable to be disqualified for 5 years.
He further shared that the election of Municipalities will be conducted by the use of M-2 Type 4000 EVMs. The photograph of the candidate will be printed in the panel and will appear on the right side of the name in between the name and symbol of the candidate.
NOTA
Sh. Dhanpat Singh said that NOTA (None of the above) option will be used in these elections. He said that the NOTA is to be treated as a “Fictional Electoral Candidate’ while declaring the election results. If in the election, all the contesting candidates individually receive lesser votes than the ‘Fictional Electoral Candidate’ i.e. NOTA, then none of the contesting candidates will be declared as elected. In case contesting candidate and the ‘Fictional Electoral Candidate’ i.e. NOTA receive equal valid votes; then the contesting candidate (not NOTA) will be declared as elected.
He further clarified that no candidate will be eligible to file his nomination if he was a contesting candidate in the first election in which his votes were less than ‘Fictional Electoral Candidate’ i.e. NOTA. If in re-election, NOTA again gets the highest votes, then no further election will be held and the contesting candidate with the highest votes (excluding NOTA) shall be declared as elected.
Electoral Roll/Voters
Sh. Dhanpat Singh shared that the State Election Commission has prepared electoral rolls of the Municipal Committees, Municipal Councils on the basis of Vidhan Sabha electoral rolls published by the Election Commission of India on January 5, 2022 with reference to January 1, 2022, as the qualifying date.
However, if any person whose name is not included in the ward wise electoral rolls of the Municipal Committee/Council concerned but his/her name exists in the relevant part of the electrical roll of the State Legislative Assembly Constituency, he/she may apply (in Form “A”) to the Returning Officer for inclusion of his/her name in the electoral rolls of municipality till the last date of nominations.
Sh. Dhanpat Singh appealed to the voters to participate in the elections to elect the members of the Civic Body for strengthening democracy at the grass root level.
Subscribe to YesPunjab Telegram Channel & receive important news updates
