. Chandigarh: In order to facilitate the voter of Punjab during the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections, the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, Dr. S. Karuna Raju has asked the voters to carry Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to establish their identity at the polling station before casting votes on februry 20 , 2022.

According to the directions of ECI, those electors not having EPIC could cast their votes if they have any of the alternative documents like Aadhaar card, MGNREGA job card, Bank or Post office passbooks with photographs, Health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of ministry of labour, driving license, PAN card, Smart card issued by RGI under NPR, Indian Passport, Pension documents with photograph, service ID cards (with photograph) issued by central or state governments or public sector undertakings/Public limited Companies, official identity card issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs and Unique Disability ID (UDID) issued by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Government of India. These total 12 documents to be used as identity proof.

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Chandigarh: With Punjab Assembly Elections 2022 are around the corner, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Punjab Dr S Karuna Raju on Wednesday held a virtual meeting with all the Returning Officers (ROs) of the state to review the checklist for Polling Stations and Dispatch Centre.

During the meeting, Dr S Karuna Raju directed all the officers to ensure that appropriate arrangements be made at each polling station, as per the instructions of the Election Commission of India.

CEO directed officials to ensure all the COVID-19 material including Mask, Gloves, PPE, Soaps, Thermometer, Sanitizer etc are available at every polling station and there should be COVID dustbins placed at booths. He also asked ROs to ensure that web cameras are working in all the polling booths.

He asked ROs to identify 5-10 volunteers for facilitating PwDs and elderly people at the Polling booths. He asked them to install selfie points and Muscat Shera at all the Polling booths.

“Give a warm welcome to Young voters, who are casting their vote for the first time by giving them certificates or flowers. He asked to ensure pick and drop facilitiy to Elderly and PwD voters,” he directed the officers.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer also instructed to use eco-friendly material such as paper glass, paper plates and eco-friendly plastic flexes etc. during the ensuing Vidhan Sabha Polls as per directions of Election Commission of India and Kerala high court’s decision.

He also ordered to use good quality public address system during disbursal of poll parties and collection of polled EVMs and give utmost hustle free environment to women staff.

Dr S Karuna Raju asked ROs to take Special care of Women staff and provide them drop facilitiy in case they gets free in late evening.

He asked the officials that the names of all the polling stations and booths should be clearly readable and ensure the cleanliness in the toilets besides providing safe drinking water to the electors.

He also asked them to ensure all the EVM carrying vehicles are equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS).

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JALANDHAR: Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Elections Officer Ghanshyam Thori today while participating in a poll preparedness review meeting, said that district administration Jalandhar is all set for the smooth conduct of forthcoming assembly elections as all the necessary arrangements have already been put in place in this regard.

The DC said that on Poll day i.e. February 20, 2022, the polling will be held between 8am to 6 pm across all 1975 polling stations and requisite preparations have been finalized to ensure the conduct of this mammoth exercise smoothly. Giving more details, he said that the GPS monitoring was guaranteed of vehicles tasked with the transportation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to polling stations as GPS systems have already been fitted in as many as 746 vehicles.

Speaking on the arrangements made for PWD voters, the DC said that surplus arrangement of wheelchairs have been ensured with procurement of as many as 1335 wheelchairs for all 1163 polling locations. Likewise, Pick and Drop facilities would be provided to those PWD voters who have sought this assistance through PWD mobile app or BLOs, said DC.

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British Columbia: Over 20,000 students have signed a petition appealing Elections Canada to bring back on-campus voting for the Federal election on September 20.

Students in their petition state that scrapping of on campus voting program would lead to suppression and it may restricts student participation in the upcoming elections.

This program was started as a pilot program in 2015 aiming to boost students participation and help post-secondary students to cast a special ballot at polling stations in the campus.

A first-time federal voter and student from University of British Columbia said that she has also signed the petition as she was unhappy to find out the programme would be cancelled.

Another student said that having voting stations on campus will encourage youth to cast their votes.

Meanwhile, Election Canada says that this programme has been cancelled this year due to short time-line as it was called in August.

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