Shimla 02 April –
District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner Shimla Anupam Kashyap directed all the nodal officers appointed for various activities in view of the Lok Sabha elections-2024 to complete the final action plan related to their work at the ground level within the next 05 days.
The District Election Officer was presiding over a meeting organized here today with all the nodal officers regarding the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections. Additional Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Verma, Additional District Magistrate (Protocol) Jyoti Rana, Additional Superintendent of Police Rattan Singh Negi, Sub Divisional Magistrate Shimla Urban Bhanu Gupta, Assistant Commissioner Gopal Chand Sharma, Tehsildar Election Rajendra Sharma and nodal officers of various activities were present in the meeting.
In the meeting, Additional Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Verma, who is the nodal officer for the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, informed that since the announcement of election, total 14 complaints related to the Model Code of Conduct had been received, out of which 11 have been resolved and action on 03 was going on. Similarly, 17 phone calls had been received on toll free number 1950 related to the voter registration process. Apart from this, while giving information about SVEEP activities, Abhishek Verma said that slogan writing and video making competitions had been organized at the district level with the assistance of the District Language Officer. Similarly, a rally from Narkanda to Sarahan was proposed to be organized from 12 to 14 April 2024. He said that various activities were being organized even at the sub-division level to make voters aware.
It was informed in the meeting that all the Flying Surveillance Teams and Static Surveillance Teams had become fully operational and no case of seizure had been reported so far. The District Election Officer directed all the teams to prepare a better strategy and investigate every case thoroughly. Similarly, he also directed to speed up the data entry work of manpower being done by various departments. He directed Additional District Magistrate (Protocol) Jyoti Rana to take up this matter with all the sub-divisional magistrates.
Anupam Kashyap said that the strong rooms of EVM/VVPAT should be as per the prescribed norms and the presence of representatives of political parties must be ensured during first level checking and other important events.
Discussing the law and order situation, Additional Superintendent of Police Ratan Singh Negi informed that after the announcement of elections, about one kilo 500 grams of narcotics had been seized in the district under the NDPS Act and about one thousand liters of liquor had been seized under the Excise Act. Apart from this, about 16 thousand licensed weapons had so far been deposited by the people in the district.
The District Election Officer also directed to ensure arrangement of wheel chairs at polling stations for PWD voters.
Anupam Kashyap said that all the officers should complete the preparations on time so that there would be no scope for any kind of mistake. He urged all the officials to work in better coordination so that the Lok Sabha elections can be conducted in a free, fair and peaceful manner.
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Complaint can be lodged on toll free number 1950
Citizens can call the voter helpline number 1950 and lodge a complaint regarding violation of Model Code of Conduct and expenditure related matters. A control room had been set up at the district level for dealing with complaints related to violation of the Model Code of Conduct, which had been kept active 24 hours. Any citizen can ask any question or lodge a complaint free of cost at any time on any day in English or Hindi. Callers can inquire on issues like elections, polling dates, EPIC, electoral roll, online registration and lodge complaints by simply dialing the toll-free number.
