Monday, 31 January 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The district magistrate and the election officer of Dehradun, R Rajesh Kumar and the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Janmejaya Khanduri held a meeting with observers appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to brief them about the preparations made by the authorities concerned to ensure smooth conduct of general assembly elections. He informed them that there are 1,886 booths in all the Assembly constituencies of the district and webcasting is being done at 943 booths. He said that 18 Sakhi booths and two booths for persons with disabilities are being established in the district too. He informed that the first two randomisation processes have been carried out and the third one is proposed to be held on February 11. He informed that 60 flying squad teams and 75 Static Surveillance Teams (SST) are currently deployed in the district which is working day and night. So far, the authorities have confiscated unaccounted cash of over Rs 75 lakh rupees and over 3,468.46 litres of liquor worth more than Rs 19.90 lakh, added Kumar. He also informed that all municipal bodies have been directed to make necessary arrangements to ensure proper disposal of garbage including the bio waste generated in the polling booths in their respective areas. The SSP also said that the entire district is divided into super zone, zone and sector zone, and regular checks are being conducted within the district and near the border areas.
The general observer Sigy Thomas Vaidhyan who attended the meeting virtually asked the returning officers (ROs) about the preparations to tackle the weather-related issues in the inaccessible areas including snowfall and rain to ensure locals reach the polling booths and return safely after casting votes. Also, the observers (Expenditure) Dilip Kumar and Navneet Manohar also directed the officials
to closely monitor the entire campaign activities including social media platforms, paid news and other campaign activities of the candidates to take appropriate actions on the matter. Other observers from ECI including M Sudha Devi, Jaiveer Singh Arya, Alok Pandey, Kiran Zaveri, Renu Duggal and all ROs and nodal officers were also present in the meeting.
