Ensure all voter ID cards are distributed by Sept end: EC

Gurgaon: Ensure that all pending voter ID cards are printed and distributed by Sept 30, the Election Commission (EC) told senior officials of 11 districts in a meeting held in the city on Monday. Deputy election commissioner Hirdesh Kumar directed district commissioners and SPs to personally inspect polling stations and ensure that they are fully equipped with facilities such as seating areas, drinking water and voter facilitation booths.
In the meeting, Kumar also reviewed the marking of electoral rolls, distribution of voter slips and distribution of voter IDs. Copies of electoral rolls handed over to candidates should match with marked electoral rolls, he said.
Apart from Kumar, other EC senior officers, as well as divisional commissioners, IG (police range), deputy commissioners-cum-deputy election officers (DEOs), police commissioners, municipal corporation commissioners, general observers and police observers from the 11 districts were present. The districts included were Gurgaon, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal, Mahendergarh, Rewari, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Jhajjar, Rohtak, and Sonipat.
Kumar also directed DEOs to be equally accessible to all the political parties and to promptly resolve grievances related to various election-related activities. The EC team cited the need for webcasting from all polling stations and pointed out that the seizures done so far are not satisfactory. It emphasised reworking the strategy and monitoring the working of different flying squads and static surveillance teams. Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat were directed to make special efforts for this.