Meeting held to review poll preparedness in Leh

Our Correspondent

Jammu, May 16

In preparation for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election for the Ladakh parliamentary constituency, District Election Officer, Leh, Santosh Sukhadeve convened a meeting with the political parties and contesting candidates.

The agenda of the meeting was updates on postal voting, Election Duty Certificate (EDC), polling stations, intermediate strong rooms and appointment of polling agents.

Regarding postal voting, it was highlighted that out of 522 individuals who opted for this facility, 471 successfully availed it. Notably, among electors aged above 85 years, there were 262, out of which 248 votes were cast. Additionally, 27 individuals having benchmark disability certificates opted for postal voting with 26 casting their vote, Moreover, out of 233 voters categorised under essential services opting for postal voting facility, 197 cast their vote.

Regarding EDC, it was clarified that these certificates will be issued to all personnel engaged in election related duty and as for the Kargil team, it also underwent verification and will soon be issued certificates.

The meeting also highlighted the presence of 298 polling stations. A dispatch plan was outlined for all the polling stations and for places such as Dipiling and Zingchen, two inaccessible polling stations devoid of road connectivity, it was informed that police force and CAPF will utilise helicopters with polling parties scheduled to arrive on May 17. Additionally, all vehicles involved in transportation are equipped with GPS facilities to enable real time tracking.

It was further informed that in Nubra, Nyoma and Durbuk, electronic voting machines will be collected and securely stored in an intermediate strong room located at the treasury office. These EVMs will then be transported to the Leh strong room on the following day.

The DEO pointed out that every candidate can keep a polling agent along two reserved agents, who are tasked with observing the voting process to ensure it is conducted fairly and to check any kind of discrepancies. He stressed the need to start the appointment of the polling agents as soon as possible.

The meeting was attended by Superintendent of Police Shruti Arora and representatives of contesting candidates.

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