Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday that the date of Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections would be decided keeping in view the snowfall season here. According to news agency PTI, he assured free, fair and transparent voting on his last day of his visit to the hill state.
Addressing media persons here, the Election Commission chief said that there are currently 53,88,409 voters in the state, of whom 54,000 are disabled (PWD). He said that out of these 1,27,662 voters are senior citizens and out of these, 1,294 voters are above 100 years of age.
He said that PWD and senior citizens can avail the facility of voting from home by filling a form. The CEC also said that a section of the society raised questions about Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) but they were found to be completely transparent.
During his three-day visit, Kumar also inaugurated an election exhibition at the historic Gaiety Theatre, showcasing activities related to the electoral process and will continue till September 26. Kumar also interacted with the Deputy Commissioners present there, as reported by PTI.
Election Commission has also launched an election song for voter awareness in different dialects of Himachal Pradesh.
The entire team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) began a tour of Himachal Pradesh on 22 September to assess the preparedness of the polling system in the hill state.
Election Commissioner Anoop Chandra Pandey also accompanied Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar during this three-day visit to Himachal Pradesh to start preparations for the upcoming assembly elections.
it is normal for Election commission will visit the election states before the announcement of the election. The officials are also likely to visit another election state i.e. Gujarat on Monday.
In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP returned to power in 2017 defeating the Congress. The Congress is gearing up to challenge the BJP in the largely bipolar hill state where AAP is trying to establish a foothold.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a youth rally in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district on September 24 ahead of the likely assembly elections this year.
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