JK News Today
Srinagar, May 11: The Polling for Fourth phase of General Elections to 18″ Lok Sabha is setto commence on 13″ May, 2024 in the Parliamentary Constituency of PC:
2- Srinagar. Around 2,135 Polling stations are set to go to poll across 5 districts of Srinagar, Pulwama, Budgam, Ganderbal and Shopian (37-Shopian).
1) Polling Stations and Staff: – in the second phase there are 2,135 number of Polling stations in 5 Districts, these are Srinagar, Pulwama, Budgam, Ganderbal and Shopian. Four election staff, including
Presiding Officer will be stationed in every polling station. In total more than 8,500 Polling staff, including reserve will be deployed on duty.
2) Voters: – A Total 17,47,810 lacs of voters are enrolled in phase 4″, which includes 8,75,938 male and 8,71,808 female voters and 64 third gender voters. They will go to vote on 13″ May. There are around 11,682 persons with disability and 705 persons above the age of 100 years
3) Mock Poll and actual time: – from morning 7.00 am to evening 6.00 pm there will be voting, before that there will be mock poll in presence of polling agents. Voting will continue even after 6.00 pm, if voter’s queue is there in the Polling Station premises.
4) Facilities at Polling Station: – every polling station will be provided with assured minimum facilities (AMF) like drinking water, electricity, toilet, ramp, furniture, verandah/shed etc. Wheel chair will also be provided. Ballot Unit will also have a list of contesting candidates in brail script. Wherever required there will be separate queues for senior citizens andspecially-abled persons so that they are facilitated in every polling station. Additionally, there will be a voter help desk, manned by the concerned Booth Level Officer (BLO) to extend necessary help whenever required.
5) Special Polling Stations: – There will be 20 number of polling booths managed by women (also called as pink polling stations), 18 number of polling booths manned by specially abled persons and 17 number of Polling Booths managed by youths. Also in order to spread message about environment, there will be 21 green polling stations. The purpose behind these special polling stations is to spread
awareness among sections of society like women, specially abled, first time young voters etc and to motivate them to come forward and exercise their right to vote.
6) Distribution of voter information slip: – in order to facilitate voters in identification and also to increase voter turnout ratios, all voters have been provided with voter information slips. It is a simple black and white printed piece of paper with information like Polling Station name, date & time of poll, serial number of voter in the list, his full name, QR code but not the photograph of the voter. Hence, Voter Information Slips will not be allowed as proof of the identity of voters. The BLO concerned has
distributed voter information slip 100 %. Also citizens can view details of the Polling Station, Parliamentary Constituency, and get the contact details of the Booth Level Officer,
Electoral Registration Officer among other services, through Voter Helpline App (VHA). This mobile app is available on the Google Play store and Apple App Store
7) Documents which can be used for voter’s identification: – in addition to Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), following 12 types of documents will also be allowed to verify a voter and allow him voting. EPIC card is not mandatory for voting. If some voter has misplaced his/ her EPIC
card, with any of the following document can go to the Polling Station and after verification, vote. These documents are –
(i) | Aadhaar Card,
(ii) MGNREGA Job Card,
(iii) |. Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office,
(iv) Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of
the Ministry of Labour,
(v) Driving License,
(vi) PAN Card,
(vii) Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR,
(viii) Indian Passport,
(ix) Pension document with photograph,
(x) Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies,
(xi) Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs
(xii) Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card, issued by M/o Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.
8) SVEEP: –
With the aim of spreading awareness among the voters, Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) emerges as a comprehensive programme aimed at reinforcing voter education and promoting active participation in democratic process. The need for SVEEP arises from the Election Commission of India’s unwavering commitment to ensuring the participation of every voter in this
monumental celebration of democracy. During the last few months, through various modes, SVEEP activities were created in very nook and corner. Various activities like appeal messages in print, electronic and social media, through hoardings, banners, radio jingles etc carried out.
Street plays, use of social media influencers and icons was also done. Because of all these, the voter turnout is expected to be higher than the last Lok sabha election.
Home voting for above 85 age and disability more than 40 % was held at door steps for all those applied. These events were largely covered in SVEEP. Awareness events in Dal Lake, Mughal Gardens, Lal Chock, Shehar-E-Khas etc places in Srinagar and in similar other places of other Districts were held.
9) Media Pass for Facilitation of poll coverage: – more than 600 journalist and cameraman of print, electronic and social media platforms have been provided with Pass to cover the polling. Without
compromising secrecy of vote and without having any inconvenience to poll process, they can cover the polling. Detailed instructions are there on the pass.
10) Voter turnout app and reporting of voting: – Voter Turnout App will be used to display estimated provisional voter turnout details of each Parliamentary Constituency entered by the RO. The media can also use the same application to capture estimated voter turnout data. Approximate
voter turnout data of each phase of the elections will be displayed through this app. There will be two hourly reporting of voting percentage from 9.00 am to the end of poll. Concerned ARO and RO will share the data with media accordingly. Even the updated figures will be placed in voter turnout app. These figures are always subject to, normally upward correction as the final confirmed figures are collected after receiving the statutory forms from all Polling Stations. So till these final figures are known, figures on Voter Turnout App are to be always tentative.
11) Use of technology — webcasting of Polling station and GPS for vehicle: – all 100 % polling stations in phase 4 will have CCTV type cameras for live webcasting to control rooms established at District and
CEO office. Cameras will be positioned in such a way so that they don’t violate the secrecy of vote.
12) There are few polling stations which falls in communication shadow areas. Suitable alternate arrangements in the communication shadow areas by providing Satellite Phones, Wireless sets, and Special Runners etc have been put in place.
Candidates/ Political parties need to obtain prior permission for campaigning purposes, they seek online permission on Suvidha app. Till date election officers have accorded permission for 1556 applications and rejected 271.
13) Monitoring of election expenditure — seizures: – In the entire Union Territory, from the date of announcement of the election material/ cash of around 44.23 Crore has been seized. Cash, liquor, drugs and other freebees have been seized by various enforcing departments like Police
Department of valuing Rs 40.56 Crore, Income Tax Department 32 lacs, Excise Department 85 lacs, and Narcotics Control Bureau has seized drugs worth 2.32 Crore respectively.
14) Model code of conduct- observance of silence period: – the public campaigning in areas of the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency concluded at 6.00 PM evening of 11″ of May. 48 hours before elections, (closing poll hour) Known as the silence period or pre-election silence, is
when all campaign-related activity is supposed to be halted, and no one, including persons like citizens, journalists, politicians, etc. are allowed to partake in any such public activity. Holding public meetings, conference, interviews etc. is also to be stopped. This is done to give the voters a peaceful break from being influenced by campaigns so that they may make a considered decision while voting. Political Advertisements in print media can only be done only after Media Certification and
Monitoring Committee (MCMC) prior clearance. Sale of liquor, even from licensed shops, is also banned. Till date, 108 grievances have been received on C-VIGIL app and more than 60 % resolved in time and other are under resolution. For filing Model Code of Conduct Violation cases by Citizen, C-VIGIL app provides time-stamped evidentiary proof of the ModelCode of Conduct/ Expenditure Violation by empowering every citizen to click a photo or video using his or her Smartphone.
15) Establishment of Command and Control Room at CEO office and DEO offices: – to monitor various election related activities and also check model code of conduct compliance, a Command and Control
Room has been established at CEO office, Jammu and similar mini control rooms at every DEO offices. These are functioning 24 x 7. All electronic media channels, social media platforms are monitored here,
any violation detected, is reported and concerned RO/ ARO issues notice. Apart from looking for MCC violation, the Control room also have live feed of all 100 % Polling Stations and GPS vehicle tracking of all vehicles being used for poll parties.
16) Migrant Voters and Special Polling Stations- As per the latest instructions of Election Commission of India Special Polling Stations have been established for Migrant Voters of Kashmir Division. A total of 26 Special Polling Stations have been established with 21 polling stations in Jammu, 4 in Delhi, and 1 in Udhampur District respectively. Special Polling Station-wise extract voter list will be with BLOs.
“We encourage the voters to participate in the maximum number in
the biggest festival of the largest democracy of the world.”
