E-Paper
Ludhiana officials meet over poll expense
DEO Sakshi Sawhney briefed assistant expenditure observers on monitoring election expenditure & enforcement of Model Code of Conduct. Nomination filing process for general elections also discussed.
In order to explain the role and responsibility of monitoring teams constituted for keeping an eye over the poll expenditure and for ensuring enforcement of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during the Lok Sabha elections, district election officer (DEO)-cum-deputy commissioner (DC) Sakshi Sawhney conducted a meeting on Thursday with the assistant expenditure observers.
The DEO directed the assistant expenditure observers to keep strict vigil on election expenditure.
Election Commission of India (ECI) has set an expenditure limit of ₹95 lakh for every candidate during the general elections and a separate account should be opened for the purpose of election expenditure. The team members were apprised about the methodology to calculate the poll expenditure, added the DEO.
The DEO said the team members were explained about the role and responsibilities entrusted upon them by the ECI. To assist the monitoring teams, several flying squad teams, static surveillance team, video surveillance team and video viewing teams have been formed by the administration, she added.
Additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Anmol Singh Dhaliwal among other officials of the administration were also present in the meeting.
Briefing on filing nomination
District election officer (DEO)-cum-deputy commissioner (DC) Sakshi Sawhney chaired a meeting with representatives of various political parties in her office to brief them about the process of nomination filing for the upcoming general elections as per the guidelines of Election Commission of India (ECI).
Sawhney said the notification for the elections would be issued on May 7, and nominations can be submitted from May 7 to 14. No nominations will be accepted on May 11 (Saturday) and 12 (Sunday) due to public holidays. Scrutiny of nominations will be done on May 15, and the last date of withdrawal would be May 17. Polling would be held on June 1 and votes would be counted on June 04, added the DEO.
The DEO said the poll nominations would be received only in her office from 11 am to 3 pm. In her absence, assistant returning officer Deepak Bhatia would accept the nominations in the DC office. The nominations could be filed through the Suvidha online portal, but the candidate is required to submit the hard copies of nomination papers in the office. She also directed that the nomination proposer must be from the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency. There must be one proposer for the recognised parties and ten proposers for independent and unrecognised parties. The candidate can submit four sets of nominations, she added.
DEO Sawhney also briefed about the security deposits which is ₹25,000 in cash for general category and ₹12,500 for SC/ST candidates. It is mandatory to attach the caste certificate. The amount must be deposited before or at the time of filing the nomination. A certified copy of the voter list must be attached with the nomination forms. The passport size photograph of the candidate with a white background must not be older than three months and without any kind of uniform. It is mandatory for all the political parties and candidates to publish criminal antecedents of their candidates at least three times in newspapers, television channels, and on their websites, she added.
She said as per the stipulated norms laid down by the ECI. only five persons including the candidate would be allowed to enter the place where the nominations for the polls would be filed. The entire process of nominations would be video graphed to ensure transparency. The DEO also constituted the teams of civil and police officers to look into the necessary arrangements during the nomination process.
The representatives of political parties were also apprised of the offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which can lead to disqualification. They were also given a demo of online nomination filing process on Suvidha portal.
