Meena holds meeting on poll preparations

Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena on Monday held a meeting with the leaders of various political parties to discuss the preparations for the Assembly elections.

He explained the COVID-19 protocols to be followed during the elections. Only two persons will be allowed along with the candidate for filing of nominations. A maximum of five vehicles will be permitted for vehicle rallies as part of the campaign. A time gap of 30 minutes should be there between two successive rallies.

Facilities for online filing of nominations will be arranged for this election. The candidates filing their nominations online should download it and submit a copy to the returning officer. The security deposit can also be paid online.

Postal voting

Mr. Meena said that facilities for postal voting would be arranged for those above the 80 years, for the differently abled and those who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Those who wish to cast postal votes should submit an application in the 12D form to the returning officer. Applications can be made from the date of issuance of the election notification. The returning officer will prepare a list of postal voters on a booth basis.

A special team of officials, consisting of two polling officers, a police person and a videographer, will distribute the postal ballot. The candidates will be informed of the time of distribution of postal ballots. Representatives of candidates can also be present during distribution.

Mr. Meena requested the cooperation of all political parties for the smooth conduct of the election. He asked the parties to ensure that their polling agents are present in all booths to check bogus voting.

On criminal cases

The candidates have to submit the details of police cases and crime records against them. These also have to be published through media thrice. Mr. Meena said that the parties would have to provide an explanation along with the nomination papers for why they could not find an alternative candidate in case they were fielding candidates with criminal records.

The maximum number of voters allowed per booth is 1,000. Auxiliary booths will be set up if there are more voters. Mr. Meena said that more than 15,730 booths would be required.