By Raju William
Mansa, March 11, 2019: Five pink polling booths will be set up in each Vidhan Sabha constituency of the district wherein only female voters will cast their votes to encourage women to come out of their homes to exercise their right to franchise.
In addition to this, 5 model polling booths each will also be set up in all the three Vidhan Sabha constituencies including Mansa, Sardulgarh and Budhlada in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Of the total 577439 voters 149823 are urban voters and 427616 rural voters.
District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Apneet Riyait and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gulneet Singh Khurana addressed a specially convened meeting of the representatives of various political parties and mediapersons to share information about the arrangements made for conducting the free and fair polls.
Riyait said that all women polling booths will have female security officers and the election staff deputed there for the convenience of female voters. Also the arrangements at each model polling booth will be made as per instructions of the Election Commission.
She added that the social media accounts of political candidates will also be monitored.
About the arrangements made for law and order during the elections, SSP Gulneet Singh Khurana said that due to elections, the Mansa police have already set up three inter-state nakas. Total 25 such state nakas will be set up to check the borders.
He added that 65 percent of the licensed arms holders have already submitted their licence, while the rest have been asked to deposit the same at their nearest police stations. Similarly, police are keeping a strict vigil on the movement of liquor too.
Addressing the political representatives, Riyait and Khurana stated that the permissions for usage of loudspeakers, holding rallies etc has to be taken by applying for the same on Suvidha app. If any political party holds a political activity without permissions, action will be taken as per the law.
Both officers also appealed the representatives of political parties to participate in every meeting district administration held on elections so that the elections could be held in a transparent manner.
Riyait stated that that no government employee or officer will be given any leave till the election procedure is completed. If anyone seeks leave on medical ground, he or she will have to submit certificate provided by the Civil Surgeon.
ADC (G) Rajdeep Singh Brar, ADC (D) Gurmeet Singh Sidhu, Assistant Commissioner Navdeep Kumar, SDM Mansa Abhijeet Kaplish, SDM Sardulgarh Latif Ahmed, SDM Budhlada Aditya Dhachwal, SP (H) Major Singh and representatives of various political parties were present.