Amid reports of pre-poll violence in Manipur, state chief election officer Rajesh Agrawal on Thursday said that out of 60 constituencies, only 10-12 constituencies reported poll-related violence while 80 per cent of constituencies had no single complaint of violent incidents. And, from those constituencies with reports of poll violence, no complaint was lodged by any political party, almost all the FIR are suo-motu FIR.
Agrawal was speaking to the media at CEO office, Lamphelpat, Thursday. On the issue of the use of arms in poll violence, Agrawal said that Manipur is a state which has been marked by insurgencies for more than two decades. It is common knowledge that Illegal arms or ammunition are available in the state in addition to licensed arms. "Illegal and unlicensed arms are available in the state. Lots of illegal arms are confiscated," Agrawal said.
The CEO also said that police are very active to disperse poll-related violence and control the situation. There are multiple incidents across the state but non of the incidents fall under major violent incident due to police's control, he said, adding that police are investigating the cases of bomb blast ahead of the election.
Also Read: Shiv Sena hits out at PM Modi, Amit Shah on omission of AFSPA
When asked about the coming election preparation, Agrawal said that all arrangements for dispersal of polling parties have been made. He also mentioned the following:
Webcasting/videography will be done in all polling stations. Adequate CAPF will also be deployed in all polling stations. ASHA and Anganwadi workers are engaged while two volunteers will also be engaged in each polling station for assisting voters. Voter Assistance Booths will be set up in all polling stations. Provision for Pick up/Drop facilities for PwD and aged electors are made available with wheelchair facilities being provided.
Also Read: Election is the time to take stand for progressive society: Bhakta Charan Das
To ensure safe voting for electors, all polling stations will be sanitized one day before the poll. Earmarking of circles, token system will be in place to avoid crowding in polling stations and adequate sanitizer, masks, gloves, face shields, PPE kits, etc. will be provided to polling parties.
During the silence period which starts from 48 hours prior to the close of poll, presence of political functionaries from outside the constituency will be restricted.
Election matters will not be permitted to be telecasted /broadcasted in radio, TV or similar apparatus, while pre-certification by State/District MCMC is mandatory for publication of political advertisement in newspapers during the period. Public Meeting, procession etc will also be prohibited.
On poll day, candidates cannot canvas within 200 metres of polling stations. Candidates will not be permitted to enter polling booths with security. No one will be allowed to carry mobile phones inside the polling booth except for the Presiding Officer and Polling Officer-I.
As per Section-126 of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951, holding public meetings is prohibited during a period of 48 hours ending with an hour fixed for conclusion of the poll. No person should convene, hold or attend, join or address any public meeting or procession in connection with an election.
No person should display to the public any election matter by means of cinematography, television or other similar apparatus. No person shall propagate any election matter to the public by holding, or by arranging the holding of, any musical concert or any theatrical performance or any other entertainment or amusement with a view to attracting the members of the public thereto, in any polling area.
Further, any person who contravenes the above provisions will be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
Also Read: Police personnel cast votes through postal ballot in Bishnupur
Regarding Identity Proof for voting, ECI has discontinued Photo Voter Slip as an identity proof with effect from February 28, 2019. It is no longer a Standalone Identity Proof. For identification at Polling Station, voter shall present her/his EPIC or any identification documents approved by the Commission, which include Aadhaar Card, MNREGA Job Card, Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office, Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour, Driving License, PAN Card, Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR, Indian Passport, Pension document with photograph, Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies and Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs, along with the Voter Information Slips.
For making the upcoming elections inclusive, accessible and participative, the provision of Postal Ballots (PB) has been made available. Postal ballots for service electors have been issued to all 21,944 electors electronically and 147 have been received till date. 19,263 voters on election duty have applied for postal ballot till date and 1,512 issued out of which 1,454 have been received. Further, 5,928 postal ballots have been issued to Absentee voters out of which 5,608 postal ballots received and it will end at the end of this month.
Commissioning of EVMs for Phase-I has been completed while commissioning for phase-II will be completed on Thursday.
New Symbol Loading Unit is used for the first time wherein symbol loading process is displayed through TV screens to representatives of candidates and political parties. To track the movement of EVMs Traccar App will be embedded in all mobile phones for polling teams and sector officers.
With regard to Law & Order and Seizure, 60 FIRs have been filed and 58 persons have been arrested so far. A total of 18,120 licensed arms have been deposited till date (80.89%) and 6,892 persons have been bound down under CrPC. Total Seizure amounting to Rs 165.4738298 Crore has been made including Cash (Rs 1.826986 Crore), Drugs (Rs 143.4735214 Crore), Liquor (Rs 0.6383562 Crore), Gold (Rs 12.1676592 Crore) and others (Rs 7.367307 Crore).
