Jammu, March 18 – The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), J&K, B. R. Sharma today said that for the first time in J&K, all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to be used in the ensuing Parliamentary elections will be Braille-enabled, which will allow the visually-impaired voters to exercise their franchise without any assistance. He also said that as many as 1.32 lakh new voters have been added to the total electorate, after special summary revision of electoral rolls last month.
Following the announcement of Poll Schedule by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Parliamentary elections in the State will be held in five phases beginning April 16 next month when Jammu constituency will go to polls. The other five constituencies that will be going to polls include Udhampur on April 23, Anantnag on April 30, Srinagar on May 7 and Baramulla and Ladakh Parliamentary constituencies on May 13. As many as 65,11,638 voters are eligible to vote in J&K State.
Giving details, Mr. Sharma said that Devnar School of Blind, Mumbai has been approached for preparing Braille-enabled list of contesting candidates which will be loaded on the EVMs to facilitate the visually-challenged persons to cast their votes without seeking any assistance. He also said the first-level checking of EVMs has been started and will be completed soon, adding that two ballot units would be installed at those polling stations where the contesting candidates exceed 16.
Stating that all the pre-poll preparations have been completed, the Chief Electoral Officer said that out of the 1.32 lakh new voters eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha elections, over 79,000 will be women voters. He also said that 70 per cent of the voters will have Electors’ Photo Identity Cards (EPICs). “As many as 27 lakh new EPICs have been prepared, besides EPICs already issued during Assembly elections. For the rest, the Election Commission has permitted a list of 18 alternate documents like PAN card and State Subject certificate which can be shown by the elector at the time of casting vote,” the CEO said.
Mr. Sharma said that security would be tight as it was in the Assembly elections held recently and added that Central police forces would be deployed in required numbers, keeping in view the sensitivity of the polling stations. He said the Election Department is undertaking vulnerability mapping of the entire State to assess the requirement of security forces for conducting elections in a smooth and hassle-free manner. “We will take all steps to ensure that voters come out to vote without any fear or favour,” the CEO added.
Referring to the appointment of Election Observers (EOs) by ECI on the pattern of the recently-held Assembly elections in the State, Mr. Sharma said around 22 Election Observers would be appointed with one in each district so that the elections are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner. “The EOs will be senior Central Government functionaries who will monitor the entire poll process from the last day of nomination till the day of counting,” the CEO said.
Mr. Sharma said that nearly 40,000 Government employees have been drawn from various departments for poll-related duties, adding that most of them were already on duty in the recently-held Assembly polls. “Around 9,077 polling stations will be set up with each having about 4-5 poll employees. The poll staff is already trained. However, refresher training courses would be conducted so that they are acquainted with fresh ECI guidelines and the Model Code of Conduct,” Mr. Sharma said, adding that Election Department has geared up machinery to put transport and communication links in place for smooth conduct of polls.
The Chief Electoral Officer assured that various aspects of conducting transparent and peaceful elections in the State are being intensively looked into so that the success of the historic Assembly elections held last year is repeated in this year’s Parliamentary elections as well.
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