Dimapur, March 16 (MExN): The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced schedules for bye elections to parliamentary constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and 14 Assembly Constituencies in various states across India.
In Nagaland, the bye election to 51-Noksen (ST) AC will be held on April 17. It was left vacant after the demise of Minister and former MP, CM Chang on October 12, 2020.
The Commission notified that the poll programme schedule has been decided after taking into consideration various factors like local festivals, electoral rolls, weather conditions, movement of forces, pandemic etc.
The date of issue of Gazette notification will be on March 23 and the last date of nominations will be March 30. Polling has been set for April 17 while counting will be held on May 2. (See table)
The Electoral rolls for the constituencies have been published with January 1, 2021 as the qualifying date, the ECI informed.
The Commission also stated that it has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in the bye-election in all polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines, it notified.
Model Code of Conduct
Model Code Of Conduct (MCC) will come into force with immediate effect in the district(s) in which the whole or any part of the Parliamentary/Assembly constituency going for election is included, subject to partial modification as issued vide Commission’ s instruction of June 29, 2017 as available on its website (https://eci.gov.in).
The MCC will be applicable to all candidates, political parties and the State government concerned as well as the Union Government, the ECI notified.
Identification of voters
Voter’s identification has been made mandatory at the time of poll with Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) as the main document of identification of a voter. However, in order to ensure that no voter is deprived of his/her franchise, if his/her name figures in the electoral rolls, the Commission has allowed alternate identity documents like Aadhaar card, MNREGA Job Card, Driving License, PAN Card, Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office, Pension document with photograph, Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies, Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs etc.
Voter Information Slip
To facilitate the voter to know the serial number of electoral roll of his/her polling station, date of poll, time etc., the Commission has decided to issue Voter Information Slip (VIS) in place of Photo Voter Slip.
VIS will include information like polling station, date, time, etc. but not the photograph of the voter. VIS will be distributed at least 5 days before the date of poll to all enrolled electors, by the District Election Officer. However, VIS will not be allowed as proof of identity of voters, it informed. The Commission had discontinued Photo Voter Slips as an identity proof with effect from February 28, 2019.
In view of spread of COVID-19, the Commission’s broad guidelines issued earlier on August 21, 2020 which is available on the Commission’s website, is to be followed strictly during the conduct of elections.
All instructions issued during General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Bihar, 2020 and General Elections to Legislative Assemblies of 5 States/UT shall also be mutatis mutandis applicable to the aforementioned bye-elections, the ECI informed.
