Bhubaneswar: With the announcement of deadline for completion of Bihar Assembly polls and by-elections to 64 MLA seats, office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha has geared up to ensure smooth conduct of the by-polls in the state.
Recently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that the entire election process should be completed by November 29, 2020. Two Assembly constituencies – Balasore and Tirtol (SC) – will go to bye-elections before the time. The two Assembly seats have fallen vacant due to demise of sitting MLAs Madan Mohan Dutta and Bishnu Das.
CEO Sushil Kumar Lohani Wednesday chaired a review meeting with the district Collectors and SPs of Balasore and Jagatsinghpur through videoconferencing.
“By-election may be declared by the Election Commission of India at any time during October-November 2020 and we have to conduct bye-election to the 102-Tirtol AC in Jagatsinghpur district and 38-Balasore AC which are lying vacant,” said Lohani.
He directed both the district electoral officers (DEOs) and respective Collectors to strictly follow the instructions and guidelines on COVID-19 while making arrangements for by-elections till the completion of the polls.
Lohani said extensive awareness drives on wearing of masks, sanitizing hands, maintaining social distance and thermal screening of voters as well as polling personnel will be carried out before the elections.
Similarly, nodal health officer at district and constituency levels will be appointed in view of COVID-19 pandemic during the by-polls, he stated.
The CEO also said that special arrangements will be made for COVID-19 infected voters. Isolation centres would be set up for them and COVID positive voters would be allowed to exercise their franchise at the last hour of poll, he added.
The number of electors per booth has been limited to 1,000 maximum to ensure social distancing during poll.
Accordingly, polling stations where the number of voters is more than 1,000 have been bifurcated and auxiliary polling stations have been created by both the DEOs in consultation with political party representatives, sources said.
All persons associated with the by-elections will abide by COVID-19 guidelines. Wearing of masks has been made mandatory for all the voters who were also asked to follow the norms for hand sanitisation and social distancing at the polling stations.
The CEO took a detailed review of the preparatory activities for deployment polling persons, vehicle arrangements, security arrangements, strong rooms, dispersal centres and counting halls among other things.
Additional CEO BP Ray, joint CEO Satrughna Kar and other senior officials attended the meeting.