Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 2: The Election Commission of India yesterday held a high level meeting in New Delhi to review preparedness for Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and pick up top IAS and IPS officers for deployment as General and Police Observers for the elections and review other measures to ensure free and fair polling in the militancy infested State from November 25 to December 20.
The full Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath, Election Commissioners BS Brahma and Naseem Zaidi and Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi reviewed ongoing election process in Jammu and Kashmir including deployment of para-military force and police, posting of General, Police, Expenditure and Awareness Observers and all other measures required for ensuing free and fair elections in the border State.
The Commission reviewed deployment of para-military forces and police in general areas to create confidence among the people and polling stations especially in the areas, which were infested by the militancy and those falling in the border areas including Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB), which had the potential of disruptions by Pakistan.
The Commission was maintaining close liaison with Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K Umang Narula in reviewing the election preparedness for the elections, the process for which had already been set into motion for 15 Assembly seats, which will go to polls in first phase on November 25.
The Commission had selected top IAS and IPS officers from different States with clean record for deployment as General and Police Observers in the State, sources said.
Meanwhile, CEO J&K Umang Narula, who is closely supervising the entire election process in Jammu and Kashmir, told the Excelsior that the Election Commission would deploy senior IAS officers from different States as Observers for every Assembly segment.
“The Observers would be deployed in the Assembly segments the day filing of nomination papers is completed i.e. November 5 in the seats going to elections in first phase,” Narula said, adding that two Awareness Observers have already been posted in Ladakh and Bandipora.
He said the Expenditure Observers would also be deployed when campaigning for the elections commence in the constituencies. “If the district has less Assembly segments (for instance only two in Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts), there will be one Expenditure Observer but if the district has more segments like 11 in Jammu and 8 in Srinagar, number of the Observers would go up,” he added.
Narula said the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have reached the State from Gujarat and Bihar. One EVM would be deployed in each of 10005 polling stations if number of candidates in the Assembly constituency is 15 or below. An EVM has 16 buttons-one each for 15 candidates and another for NOTA (None of the Above). However, if numbers of the candidates exceed 15, two EVMs will be used in all polling stations of that Assembly segments, he added.
Narula, however, ruled out any increase in number of polling stations at this stage saying average number of voters per polling station in Jammu and Kashmir was 720 as against 1200 to 1500 of the Election Commission guidelines.
It may be mentioned here that apart from General, Expenditure and Awareness Observers, the Election Commission of India has also taken the initiative of appointing Police Observers in the Assembly elections. The Police Observers will be IPS officers from different parts of the State.
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