Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The ECI team, on its second day in the state, held marathon meetings with officials regarding the deployment of security forces, election expenditure, status of EPIC, manpower requirements, etc.
A Election Commission of India (ECI) team led by deputy election commissioner Hirdesh Kumar arrived in Guwahati on Tuesday for a two-day visit to evaluate the preparations being made for holding the LS election in the state. The team held a series of meetings with the chief secretary and IGP (law & order) yesterday. Officials of the ECI held a review meeting with all district election officers, SPs, DIGs, Commissioner of Police Guwahati, and other senior officials to assess the poll preparedness in the state ahead of the upcoming general election.
According to official sources, today’s discussions were related to the status of the distribution of Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC), provisions made in polling stations, availability of EVM/VVPATs and manpower, SVEEP activities being carried out to increase voter turnout, training of manpower, etc. Along with Hirdesh Kumar, senior principal secretary NN Butolia, director Pankaj Srivastav, and secretary NT Bhutia interacted with all officers, who apprised them about the status of poll preparedness in their respective districts.
It needs to be mentioned here that, after the completion of the delimitation exercise of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly constituencies in Assam, the number of polling stations now stands at 28,645.
Before the delimitation exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the state last year, the number of polling stations stood at 28,205. With the number now increasing to 28,645, there has been an addition of 440 polling stations in the state.
Rationalization of polling stations was done in Assam on the instruction of the ECI as part of the post-delimitation exercise. The rationalization of the polling stations was done by the district election officers, and the process was monitored by the Election Department of Assam.
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