Curtains are set to come down on the campaign for the forthcoming elections to 17th Lok Sabha seats in the State on Tuesday.
The campaign for Lok Sabha polls was relatively low key compared to the high-decibel campaign witnessed for the Assembly elections held in December. Several national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BSP chief Mayavati campaigned for their respective candidates during the last fortnight.
Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said that no public meetings would be allowed after 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the areas going for polls. Sale of liquor would be prohibited till completion of the polling hours on April 11. Steps had also been taken to prohibit transmission of bulk SMS by the candidates or political parties. “We will follow the 72-hour protocol from Tuesday and send reports on the preparedness to the EC accordingly,” he said. Monitoring the social media campaign by candidates and political parties had been intensified and the election authority registered 1,939 cases of suspected “paid news”.
As much as ₹45.17 crore cash and liquor worth ₹4.09 crore had been seized so far in addition to drugs/narcotics worth ₹ 2.75 crore.
In all, 1,430 complaints were received on the cVIGIL and other apps and 74 of these cases were related to money and liquor distribution which amounted to corrupt practices to induce voters.
Referring to other issues, he said all arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of elections in all the constituencies including Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat where 185 candidates are in the fray.
Polling would be held between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. in all constituencies except 13 Assembly segments identified as Left Wing Extremist-affected areas where the poll would be held between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Voting in Nizamabad constituency would commence at 8 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. as mock polling on EVMs was expected to take considerable time in view of the large number of contestants. “There are no major changes in the polling processes in Nizamabad,” he said, adding contestants had been adequately explained about the steps that had been taken by the election authority for the smooth conduct of the election.
Given the large number of contestants and 12 ballot units being utilised in each polling station in Nizamabad, it was decided to display the list of contestants and particular EVMs in which their names were included.
“It will take about 30 seconds for the voter to enter the polling compartment, identify his/ her choice, cast vote and check it in the VVPAT machines,” he said.
He added a representation was received complaining Pragati Bhavan was being used for political activities and a report had been sent to the EC for its guidance.
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