Amid rising temperatures, Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C on Friday said all polling stations in the state will have water coolers, fans and seating arrangements to provide relief to the voters.
Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held in the last phase of the seven-phase general elections on June 1 -- when northern India is usually in the grip of severe heat wave.
During a Facebook Live interaction with people, the CEO said more than 1,600 complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations have been received by his office so far and all of them have been settled.
In response to a query, the CEO said that special consideration is being given to the possibility of a heat wave on polling day. Voters will be offered 'Chabeel' (sweetened water) to provide relief from the scorching heat. Each polling station will have water coolers, fans, seating arrangements, and sheds. A chair will be provided if more than 10 people are in the voting queue, he said during the live session -- 'Talk to your CEO Punjab'.
A special room for children, separate lines for the elderly and pregnant women and at least one wheelchair at each polling station will be ensured while medical kits will also be available with polling staff, the official added. The CEO urged the people to actively participate in the electoral process so that Punjab achieves the goal of more than 70 per cent poll percentage as Punjab's voting percentage during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was 65.96 per cent.
On security arrangements, he informed that special attention is being paid to the border areas and identified sensitive polling areas in the state. He said flying squads and surveillance teams are monitoring violations, if any, of the model code of conduct during the election process.
During the interaction session, the CEO addressed various queries from voters and also urged them to actively participate in voting to achieve the goal of 'Iss Vaar 70 Paar,' while also appealing them to report any Model Code of Violation to the commission.
Regarding a query about depositing weapons, Sibin C said that it is not compulsory for everyone, and people can get exemption after informing the reason for keeping the weapon to the Deputy Commissioner of their concerned district, as a committee has already been constituted in each district to review such cases.
Addressing another social media query, the CEO said that there is a special provision for female staff to be deputed on election duty near their house. He further stated that the list of BLOs is available online on the CEO website.
Regarding the facility of online voting, the CEO informed voters that such a facility has not yet been offered by the Election Commission of India and even about 1600 registered NRI voters will have to visit their respective polling stations to cast their votes. He said that voters without voter cards can use 12 alternate documents, including the Aadhar card, PAN card, driving license, MGNREGA job card, for voting.
