With just 10 days to go for vote counting, Punjab chief electoral officer S Karuna Raju visited the strong rooms of all Punjab assembly constituencies in the district on Monday.
The chief electoral officer was accompanied by deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Varinder Kumar Sharma, commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) J Elanchezhian, and Ludhiana (rural) SSP Ketan Baliram Patil.
The electronic voting machines (EVMs) are under three-tier security comprising Central Para Military Force (CAPF), Punjab Armed Police and Punjab Police. “The CAPF is guarding the inner perimeter of the strong rooms, the Punjab Armed Police is manning the second perimeter and the outer perimeter is being guarded by the Punjab Police,” Raju said, adding that adequate security measures will be put in place around counting centres and sensitive areas on counting day (March 10) to maintain law and order.
“The polling remained largely peaceful on February 20 and no incident of violence was reported at the 24,750 booths in the state,” said Raju.
He said that foolproof security arrangements had been made at the centres, including installation of CCTV cameras for 24x7 e-surveillance of strong rooms. “All contesting candidates can depute their representatives to monitor the security arrangements,” he said, adding that each returning officer had been visiting the strong rooms (up to the inner perimeter only) twice a day and sending report after checking the log book and videography. Raju also interacted with representatives of different political parties outside the strong rooms.
{{/usCountry}}He said that foolproof security arrangements had been made at the centres, including installation of CCTV cameras for 24x7 e-surveillance of strong rooms. “All contesting candidates can depute their representatives to monitor the security arrangements,” he said, adding that each returning officer had been visiting the strong rooms (up to the inner perimeter only) twice a day and sending report after checking the log book and videography. Raju also interacted with representatives of different political parties outside the strong rooms.
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