Returning Officers to ensure best stay, food and refreshment arrangements for election staff: DC to RO’s

Ludhiana, February 15, 2022: District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Ludhiana Varinder Kumar Sharma on Tuesday directed all 14 Returning Officers (RO’s) to ensure that best stay, food and refreshment arrangements are made for election staff deputed for poll duty.

Varinder Kumar Sharma today held a video conferencing with all 14 RO’s and sector officers and urged them to ensure that the election staff deputed for poll day duty is comfortable so that they can discharge their duties in an effective manner.

He directed the RO’s to ensure that proper transportation facility is provided to voters aged above 80 years and persons with disabilities.

He said that the district administration has appointed 235 sector officers to keep close vigil on minute-to-minute election activities on polling day (February 20) and a day before polling by empowering them with magistrial powers. 

Sharma said that sector officers play an important role in ensuring transparent and smooth elections. He said that these sector officers would have magistrate powers to conduct inspection of election activities in their booths.
 
Further, he said that sector officers have been given training about working of Punjab Poll Day Monitoring App (PPDMA) which have been  installed in the mobile phones of the sector officers on the polling day.

He said that these sector officers would share the details of dispatch and arrival of poling parties at polling booths, set up of polling station, starting of the mock poll, EVM and VVPAT cleared, polling started or delayed, halted and resumed, the number of votes polled after every two hours, the number of persons standing in a queue after 6 pm, departure and arrival of polling parties at the collection centers and depositing EVMs.

He told that district administration is duty-bound to ensure smooth and hassle free polling process in the district.

He said that elaborate arrangements have been put at place at every polling booths by the administration and added that no stone would be left unturned for ensuring  free and fair elections.