Virtual meeting reviews preparedness for assembly polls
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, February 19 2022: A detailed review meeting through video conferencing with district election officers and SPs of all districts on Poll Preparedness was conducted by state's chief electoral officer, SPNO and the SNO of CAPF on Friday.

Joint chief electoral officer (CEO) Md S Daulat Khan told newspersons on Saturday that all vital election-related activities including conduct of COVID-safe elections were discussed and observed that districts are fully geared up for the polls.

The SPNO and SNO for CAPF deliberated upon the security issues and assured that there will be no dearth of security personnel for ensuring free, fair and peaceful election.

Special emphasis has been given on making the elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative by CEO Rajesh Agrawal, he said.

The joint CEO informed that voting by way of Postal Ballots for absentee voters, voters above 80-plus years and PwD electors who applied for it, are underway with designated Polling Teams visiting the houses.

For Polling Personnel and Security Personnel who would be engaged for Poll duty, the last date for application for Postal Ballots is February 21 for Phase-I and February 26 for Phase-II.

Commissioning of EVM/VVPATs are underway in the districts, along with representatives of Political Parties, he said, adding that the new Symbol Loading Unit which is being used on Pilot basis in Manipur is working fine.

A big TV screen is used in every Commissioning Hall to display the Symbol Loading process to representatives of Political Parties, Daulat Khan added.

He also informed that director in charge of EVM in ECI and the general manager of ECIL Hyderabad will arrive on Sunday to take stock of the functioning of the new Symbol Loading Unit and the entire commissioning process.

Since the announcement of election, the total number of licensed arms deposited till date is 18,080 which is 80.71 per cent while number of persons bound down U/S107/116 CrPC till date is 6437 in total and number of non-bailable warrants executed so far is at 68 .

He also maintained that there Tias been a significant increase in destruction of poppy plants.

Additional 482 acres of poppy plantation with an estimated value Rs 47.81 Cr was destroyed.

Whereas the cumulative seizures made so far from election announcement date is valued at over Rs 161 crore.

On Friday, gold worth over Rs 3 crore was seized along with 14,000 sticks of foreign origin cigarettes, he added.

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