Hoshiarpur - Under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Komal Mittal, the first randomization of EVMs and VVPATZ was conducted in the presence of representatives of all political parties regarding Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The District Election Officer said that in the presence of the representatives of the political parties, on the instructions of the Election Commission, the process of randomization of EVMs and VV Patz machines with the software made by the Election Commission was completed. He said that the distribution of machines was done in a transparent manner through the EVM management system of the Election Commission. The representatives of the political parties expressed their satisfaction during the entire process which took place under videography. Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Additional District Election Officer Rahul Chaba, DDF Joya Siddiqui were also present on this occasion.
The District Election Officer said that there are 1563 polling booths in the district and for this, allocation has been made to the Assistant Returning Officers of 7 assembly constituencies through randomization of voting machines. He said that in the randomization of voting machines, 20 percent ballot units, 20 percent control units and 30 percent VV patz have been reserved for all Assistant Returning Officers of the district in addition to the number of polling stations in their assembly segments. He told that
301 BU, 301 CU and 326 VV PET machines were allotted for 251 polling booths to the Mukeri of the Vidhan Sabha constituencies.
268 BU, 268 CU and 291 VV PET machines for 224 polling booths in Dasuha,
265 BU, 265 CU and 287 VV PET machines for 221 polling booths in Urmur,
264 BU, 264 CU and 286 VV PET machines for 220 voting booths of Sham Churasi,
256 BU, 256 CU and 278 VV PET machines for 214 polling booths in Hoshiarpur,
246 BU, 246 CU and 266 VV PET machines were allotted for 204 polling booths in Chabewal.
The district election officer said that the voting machines will be given to all the assistant officers on May 3 and May 4, 2024 from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm after segregation of the machines. He told the representatives of the political parties that the warehouse is to be opened and closed for giving the voting machines at the given time on the said dates. Therefore, their representatives must arrive at the specified time. Meanwhile, he provided one set each to the representatives of political parties to fill nominations so that they can provide sets to their potential candidates.
Komal Mittal also informed the representatives of the political parties about the schedule regarding the Lok Sabha elections by the Election Commission of India. He said that according to the schedule, the notification for the polls will be issued on 7 May 2024 and the process of nominations will start on the same day. The last date for filing nomination papers will be 14 May 2024. Nominations will be taken on all working days on the said dates. The nomination papers will be scrutinized on 15 May 2024 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is 17 May 2024. He said that the votes will be held on June 1, 2024 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4, 2024.