Una, March 6 - The meeting of the Standing Committee of the District Level Model Code of Conduct constituted in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024 was held under the chairmanship of District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Jatin Lal. Presiding over the meeting, the Deputy Commissioner said that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) Standing Committee plays an important role in fair, smooth and transparent elections.
He said that compliance with the guidelines given by the Election Commission is ensured only through the Standing Committee. He said that all the officers can clear any kind of doubt related to the elections by meeting the concerned Returning Officer or the Election Nodal Officer of the district before the elections. He said that all the officers should work together in a transparent manner as per the rules so that the Lok Sabha elections can be conducted successfully and fairly.
He said that after the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, all the government hoardings and other publicity materials with photographs installed in public places will be removed, for which all the SDMs should decide the teams in advance. He said that for hoardings, wall writing etc. of political parties and candidates on private property, written permission will have to be taken from the property owner and this list will have to be given in the SDM office.
Jatin Lal instructed all the departmental officers of the district to ensure that they prepare a list of the locations of the hoardings put up related to their department so that the hoardings can be easily removed within 24 hours after the implementation of MCC.
The Deputy Commissioner said that no new work can be started immediately after the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct. He asked from all the departments for a list of the works which are in progress. He also said that the department should also give a list of such works which have been approved. He said that it will be mandatory to take prior permission from the concerned Returning Officer or Assistant Returning Officer for publicity through loudspeakers in vehicles and for organizing rallies and meetings. The Deputy Commissioner said that to hold a public rally, one will have to apply to the RO/ARO online and offline through the Suvidha App. Apart from this, he said that it will be mandatory to mention the name of the printing press and printer publishing the promotional material on the posters/pamphlets.
The District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner instructed the District Welfare Officer to prepare a list of disabled voters in the district and make it available to the concerned returning officers. Apart from this, he said that for the special convenience of all the disabled voters in the district, there should be facility of wheelchair, ramp, volunteer at every polling booth on the polling day so that no disabled voter can be deprived of his voting rights and can vote easily. .
Jatin Lal said that more than 40 percent disabled and elderly voters above 85 years of age will have the facility to vote through ballot paper from home. People with more than 40 percent disability and senior citizens above 85 years of age will have to submit it to the office through Form 12D provided by the Booth Level Officer.
The Deputy Commissioner said that various activities should be done under the SVEEP program in which participation of youth of NCC, NSS and NYK should also be ensured so that more and more voters can be made aware to vote through the youth.
Officers of all departments including ADC Mahendra Pal Gurjar, SP Rakesh Singh, SDM Vishwa Mohan Dev Chauhan, Tehsildar Election Suman Kapoor were present in the meeting.