Guwahati: A delegation from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday held a series of review meetings with district election officers (DEOs), Commissioner of Police, Guwahati City, superintendents of police (SPs), DIGs and other senior officials to assess the poll preparedness in Assam ahead of the General Elections to the Lok Sabha, 2024.
The ECI team, led by deputy election commissioner, Hirdesh Kumar, along with senior principal secretary, N.N. Butolia; director Pankaj Srivastava and secretary N.T. Bhutia interacted with all the officers who apprised them of the status of poll preparedness in their respective districts.
Issues related to the status of distribution of Electors Photo Identification Cards (EPICs), provisions made in polling stations, availability of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines)/ VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines and manpower, SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) activities being carried out to increase voter turnout, training of manpower, deployment of security forces and election expenditure were discussed during the meeting.
The deputy election commissioner directed all the officials to ensure that the elections in the state of Assam are conducted in a free and fair manner with high voter turnout.
Subsequently, the ECI team, who is on a two-day visit to the state, also had a meeting with Assam chief secretary Paban Kumar Barthakur, along with senior most secretaries of various government departments on Tuesday evening.
The team also held a meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, Anurag Goel, and IGP (law and order) and state police nodal officer, Assam, P.K. Bhuyan, and reviewed the poll preparedness at their end.
IG Police (TAP) and IG (Communication) and State CAPF Nodal Officer, Assam, Akhilesh Kumar Singh, and IGP (WR), Bongaigaon and Nodal Officer, Election Expenditure, Assam, Dilip Kumar Dey were also present in the meeting.
On the first day of their visit, the team also met with representatives of various central enforcement agencies and reviewed the poll preparedness to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the state.
Notably, the state administration had earlier appealed to the ECI to conduct the elections before the Bohag Bihu festival in Assam.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had, on the sidelines of an official programme, told reporters that the Assam government would request the ECI team to complete voting in the state before the festival which starts on April 13.
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