Training of district level officials on conduct of assembly polls would also be held in Meghalaya…reports Asian Lite News
The Election Commission has started preparations for holding the Assembly elections in three northeastern states — Tripura, Nagaland, and Meghalaya.
The elections to Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland are expected to be held in February next year after the Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
An election official in Agartala on Monday said that the EC has sent around 5,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), manufactured by the Hyderabad-based Electronic Corporation of India Ltd, by 15 big contenarised trucks.
“In presence of the representatives of the political parties, we have stored these EVMs here with adequate security measures. The EVMs would soon be provided to all the sub-divisions,” the official told IANS.
The official said that the National level Master Trainers (NLMT) appointed by the Election Commission last week have given training to all the eight District Magistrates and Additional District Magistrates on every important matters for the proper management of the election.
In Nagaland, resource persons from the Election Commission and the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, recently conducted a two-day training programme for the Deputy Commissioners and District Election Officers to equip the district level officials with knowledge and skill for the elections.
Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer V. Shashank Shekhar emphasised the important role played by the district electoral machinery headed by the Deputy Commissioners and District Election Officers in the overall conduct and management of the entire electoral process.
Training of district level officials on conduct of assembly polls would also be held in Meghalaya.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission Monday announced by-elections to seven vacant Assembly seats in six states to be held in November.
The Commission said that polling will be held on November 3 and counting of votes will take place on November 6.
Bypolls will be held in Andheri East in Maharashtra; Mokama and Gopalganj in Bihar; Adampur in Haryana; Munogode in Telangana; Gola Gokrannath in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in Odisha.
The notification for the bypolls would be issued on Friday and the last date for nominations would be October 14. The date of scrutiny of nominations and last date for withdrawal of candidature would be October 15 and October 17 respectively, said the poll panel on Monday.
The electoral rolls with respect to January 1, 2022 will be used for the bypolls.
The Election Commission said that an adequate number of EVMs and VVPAT machines have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.