Himachal Chief Secretary reviews election arrangements

Solan: Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena reviewed the election arrangements in Solan and Sirmaur districts on Monday.

He urged the officials to follow the Election Commission of India guidelines in letter and spirit to ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful polling. He instructed the police officers to effectively monitor the inter-state borders.
The CS stressed on strict vigilance in the border areas adjoining other states, prompt and timely disposal of complaints related to Model Code of Conduct under the complaint monitoring system, expenditure monitoring system, dispatch of polling parties etc. Activities under Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP).

Deputy Commissioner Solan Manmohan Sharma informed him about the voting preparations made in the district. 592 polling stations have been set up in five assembly constituencies of the district and 314 have been selected for webcasting facility. 42 polling stations have been marked as ‘critical’, besides 20 model polling stations, 10 women-run and five youth-run polling stations.
Sharma said that an integrated control room has been set up in the district on 24×7 basis to monitor and comply with the model code of conduct. 15 static surveillance teams, 15 flying squads and five accounting teams have been formed. In addition to 10 video observation teams, assistant expenditure observers and video surveillance teams have been assigned the duty for election expenditure monitoring. 3,516 polling officers and employees will be working in Solan district.

Manmohan Sharma said that to increase the voting percentage, an intensive awareness campaign is being run in the district under Mission-414 under a well-organized voter education and voter participation program, in which areas with low voting percentage are especially being targeted.
Superintendents of Police of Solan, Sirmaur and Baddi presented the details of security arrangements.