The general observer Umakant Panwar appointed by the Election Commission for the forthcoming byelection to the Piravom Assembly constituency arrived here on Tuesday.
Mr. Panwar, who is the chairman of the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited, will report to the Election Commission on violations of the election code of conduct. He is camping at Ernakulam Guest House. He was received at the airport by the Election Deputy Collector S. Shanavas.
Meanwhile, the expenditure observer has directed the inclusion of a senior journalist in the media certifying and monitoring committee that keeps an eye on paid news and advertisements favouring particular candidates. The nation-wide strike on Tuesday didn't affect the functioning of election-related offices. Offices of the Election Deputy Collector, returning officer, assistant returning officer, and electoral registration officer functioned normally. However, no one filed nominations on Tuesday except for the two additional sets of papers filed for the UDF candidate Anoop Jacob. Time for filing nominations for contesting the bypoll will end at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Scrutiny of nominations will be held under the supervision of the returning officer on March 1 at 11 a.m. Nominations can be withdrawn till 3 p.m. on March 3.
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Preliminary assessment indicates at 1.83 lakh voters in the Piravom Assembly constituency. The final voter's list will be published on Wednesday.
As per the list published by the Election Commission in January, the constituency had 1,78,869 voters. Another 4,230 voters entered the list when the hearing on applications was completed on February 25. The revised list will include these names that have been approved by the Commission.
EVMs
The preliminary inspection of voting machines to be used for the Piravom by-election will be completed on Wednesday. The inspection of voting machines is progressing in the newly constructed building of the district planning secretariat.