Bishnupur: Ahead of the forthcoming state assembly election, the District Election Officer, Bishnupur L. Bikram chaired a joint meeting of political party representatives and media persons of the district at the conference hall of DC Bishnupur on Thursday.
The meeting was held to brief the participants on COVID guidelines, model code of conduct, expenditure monitoring and other election-related matters.
L Bikram informed that 181715 electors from the six assembly constituencies in the district will go to poll on the first phase on February 27. He stated that altogether 1170 polling personnel will be deployed for poll duty besides 2700 armed personnel and 1200 unarmed personnel.
He also informed that 49 women-only polling stations with at least one each in every assembly segment have been planned for the ensuing election. Out of the 234 polling stations, 17 are sensitive while 49 are marked as vulnerable polling stations, he stated.Â
Stating that paid news disturbed the level playing field among political parties and candidates, L Bikram appealed to the media fraternity to avoid paid news. Highlighting the role of MCMC along with media certification, he further urged media persons to conform to ethical media coverage of elections by emphasizing on objective and unbiased reporting.
Speaking on COVID protocols during the election, L Bikram informed that all precautionary measures including vaccination, thermal screening on poll day, masking and other COVID guidelines will be enforced. He urged party representatives to engage only fully vaccinated persons for polling and counting duties while also advocating for strict adherence to COVID appropriate behaviours during poll campaigns and on poll day.
The DEO appealed cooperation from all concerned to ensure a peaceful and smooth election in the district. AC to DC Ejaj Hassan and all the ROs from the district also participated in the meeting.
