Election observers hold meet with Zonal & Sector Officers on poll preparedness in Mangaldai

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MANGALDAI: Both the Election Observers (General), Shekhar Manohar Channe and Amar Nath R Talwade, and the Election Observer (Police) Jasbir Singh on Wednesday held discussions with the polling officials at zone and sector level in the District Library auditorium here.

In the meeting attended by all the zonal and sector officials of the four legislative Assembly constituencies (LACs) of the election district, the Observers spoke about different nitty-gritty of elections at the polling station level and the minute details of every aspect related to it.

General Observer for 67 Mangaldai (SC) and 68 Dalgaon constituencies and a senior Indian Administrative Service officer, Amar Nath R Talwade spoke elaborately on the complicacies related to electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the precautions to be taken by the zonal and sector officials while supervising their operation by the presiding and polling officials. He also spoke on the steps to be taken for proper management of polling stations on the 'D- Day' on April 1.

Another IAS officer-cum-Election Observer (General) for 65 Kalaigaon and 66 Sipajhar LACs, Shekhar Manohar Channe inquired about the availability of facilities such as drinking water, electricity, toilets and furniture, which are considered indispensable for an ideal polling station, and the steps being taken by the administration to fill up any shortfall on those fronts. He also appealed to the officials present to stringently follow COVID-19 protocol such as social distancing norms, temperature checks, providing masks and sanitizers to voters, presence of medical staff, among others, in the polling stations on April 1, the polling day. He further asked the zonal and sector officers to maintain a line of communication with the presiding officers under their supervision as well with the booth-level officers (BLOs). He also stressed the need to have an efficient system in place so that senior citizens above 80 years of age and differently-abled voters could exercise their voting rights through the system of postal ballots. He also took stock of the transport plan for the polling day, and also put forward suggestions to meet with any sort of contingency situations.

Deputy Commissioner-cum- District Election Officer Dilip Kumar Borah, while addressing the meeting, appealed to the officials present to not take any casual approach towards their electoral duties and work as a team so that the upcoming election could be conducted in the most efficient manner. DEO Borah also appealed to those present to make full use of the training programmes scheduled for them. He also asked them to get themselves acquainted with the actual voting process by visiting the mock polling stations set up by the district election office.

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