Notification for Hry polls to be issued on Sep 27: Chief Electoral Officer

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal on Saturday said notification for the Assembly election will be issued on September 27 and the last date for filing of nomination papers will be October 4.

The Assembly election in Haryana will be held on October 21 and the counting of votes will take place on October 21.

Agarwal said scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on October 5 and the candidates can withdraw their nominations by October 7.

After the second revision of electoral list on August 27, 1.83 crore people, including 1.07 lakh service voters, can exercise their franchise in the Assembly election, Agarwal said, adding the process for updating the electoral roll is in progress and the number of voters is expected to increase.

 

With the announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect and all necessary arrangements have been made for free, fair and transparent conduct of the polls, the chief electoral officer said.

In reply to a question, he said, "We have requested the Election Commission of India and the Union Home Ministry for 200 companies of paramilitary forces."

One company of paramilitary force comprises around 100 personnel.

Agarwal said 19,442 voting centres have been established in the state, of which 5,511 are in urban areas and 13,931 in rural. There are 10,288 polling locations in the state, he said.

For the polling stations where the number of voters is more than 1,500, ECI has been requested to converting these into auxiliary polling stations. The number of such polling stations in the state is 136, he said, adding there are 26,329 control units and 40,615 ballot units. Besides, arrangement for 27,996 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines has been made.

Agarwal said the Election Commission has adopted a tough stance against the defacement of property.

In reply to a question, he said the Haryana Defacement of Property Act does not allow any banner, slogan to be written on the walls of a private house with or without permission and clear instruction in this regard will be given this time.

Regarding the misuse of official vehicles during elections, he said no ministers, MLA or their representative use official vehicle except for official work and intermixing of official work into political work will not be allowed.

The chief electoral officer said that the Election Commission will activate the c-VIGIL app from tomorrow and anyone could upload the photographs regarding violation of poll code on this application. The Deputy Commissioner concerned or CEO will verify the complaint and necessary action will be taken as per the law within 100 minutes.

Agarwal said 24 state-level nodal officers have been appointed for the monitoring of election expenditure of the candidates.