Imphal, March 24: Following the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, all the candidates in the Lok Sabha election will have to submit an affidavit declaring their assets as well as an affidavit that no criminal cases are pending against them.

The declarations of the candidates will be made public through the newspapers, especially the vernacular dailies, informed Chief Electoral Officer V Chhibber in a talk with The Sangai Express today.

All relevant information of the candidates as well as anything related to the election will be uploaded in the election website so that voters may have access to any information they want, he added.

The CEO admitted that there is a shortage of adequate man power for security arrangements but added that the authority will do its best with the resources available.

Though the State Government had asked for an additional 200 companies of security personnel, the Centre has obliged with 79 companies of BSF and CRPF, he said and added that till date 47 companies have arrived at the State.

The remaining will be arriving soon, he said and added that two companies of the Assam Rifles will be requisitioned for ROP duty as well as for maintaining law and order.

To provide adequate security in the far flung and remote areas of the State, six helipads are set to come up, he said.

Five helipads will come up at Churachandpur while another one will be set up at Chandel.

The 6 helipads will cover 68 polling stations, informed the CEO.

Altogether 1207 vehicles will be required for the election, said Chhibber and added that the respective DCs along with help from the SPs will start the process of requisitioning the vehicles soon.

Eight boats are also required for Bishnupur and Jiribam.

Stating that preparations for the upcoming election is nearing completion, the CEO said that training for polling personnel will wind up by March 31.Election rehearsals will be held from April 1 to 10.For the first phase polling on April 20 in the Outer, polling personnel will be deputed to their respective places from April 15, said the CEO.

To acquaint the voters to the use of the Electronic Voting Machines, training will be imparted to them from April 1 at all the district headquarters, informed the officer and added that poll agents will also be made to take part in the rehearsal.

Chhibber also appealed to all the voters, the public and NGOs to ensure that the election passes off without a hitch.

To a question whether he fears any violence during the election, the CEO said no specific assessments have been made so far.