District Election Officer Leh convenes meeting with political parties & candidates for Lok Sabha Election in Ladakh

LEH, May 16, 2024: In preparation for the forthcoming Lok Sabha Election 2024 for 1-Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency, the District Election Officer, Leh Santosh Sukhadeve has convened a meeting with the political parties and contesting candidates in the Video Conference Room on May 16.

The agenda points of the meeting were updates on Postal Voting, Election Duty Certificate (EDC), Polling stations, Intermediate strong rooms and appointment of polling agents.

Regarding postal voting, it was highlighted that out of 522 individuals who opted for this facility, 471 successfully availed it. Notably, among electors aged above 85 years were 262 out of which 248 votes were cast. Additionally, 27 individuals having benchmark disability certificates opted for postal voting with 26 casting their vote, Moreover, out of 233 voters categorized under essential services opted for postal voting facility with 197 casting their vote.

Regarding Election duty certificate (EDC), it was clarified that these certificates will be issued to all personnel engaged in election related duty and as for the Kargil team, it also underwent verification and will soon be issued certificates.

The meeting also highlighted the presence of 298 polling stations. A dispatch plan was outlined for all the polling stations and for places such as Dipiling and Zingchen, two inaccessible polling stations devoid of road connectivity, it was informed that police force and CAPF will utilize helicopters with polling parties scheduled to arrive on May 17. Additionally, all vehicles involved in transportation are equipped with GPS facilities to enable real time tracking.

It was further informed that in Nubra, Nyoma and Durbuk, Electronic voting machines will be collected and securely stored in an intermediate strong room located at the treasury office. These EVMs will then be transported to the Leh strong room on the following day.

DEO pointed out that every candidate can keep a polling agent along two reserved agents, who are tasked with observing the voting process to ensure it is conducted fairly and to check any kind of discrepancies. He stressed the need to start the appointment of the polling agents as soon as possible.

The meeting was attended by Superintendent of Police,Shruti Arora and the contesting representative candidates.