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Ranchi, 21 October (HS). Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar has said that the allegations made by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Supriyo Bhattacharya regarding the timing of voting are baseless and beyond facts. He said that in Jharkhand Assembly 2024, voting will be held till 4 pm only at three percent polling stations. In Jharkhand Assembly 2014, 89 percent voting took place and in 2019, 63 percent voting took place from 7 am to 3 pm. He was holding a press conference at Nirvachan Sadan, Dhurva on Monday.
He told that the facts regarding the allegation made by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha regarding short voting time in rural areas are as follows.
-There are a total of 29,562 polling stations in the state, out of which 24,520 polling stations are in rural areas and 5,042 polling stations are in urban areas.
-Except 981 Naxal-affected rural polling stations, the voting time in 23,539 polling stations in rural areas and in all polling stations in urban areas is from 7 am to 5 pm.
-In the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections, the voting time was kept from 7 am to 3 pm at 89 percent (22,132) and 63 percent (18,555) polling stations. This time, only three percent (981) polling stations have been kept from 7 am to 4 pm, which has been possible only due to the special efforts of the Commission.
– There is adequate publicity about the time of voting. Irrespective of the closing time of voting, all the voters standing in the queue at that time get full opportunity to vote.
legal provisions
The Commission has the legal right to fix the timing of voting under Section 56 of the Representation of the People Act 1951. This time cannot be less than eight hours. The Commission, during its visit to the state, takes stock of the historical and current security issues of the area with political parties, district administration and state administration before deciding the timing of polling. Apart from this, the geographical position of the area, road network, time of sunset as per season are also taken into consideration. The Chief Electoral Officer of the state takes a written recommendation in this regard from all the district administrations and sends it to the Commission.
-For villages or village groups having Naxalite affected or Naxalite history, it is ensured that the polling party returns safely after completing the voting process before sunset. The average number of voters at these remote polling stations is less than that of other urban and rural polling stations.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that a total of 21 candidates have filed nomination forms on Monday for the first phase of assembly elections. In this regard, till now a total of 25 people have filed their candidature forms. He said that so far six FIRs have been registered for violation of the Model Code of Conduct and action is being taken as per rules. Appealing to the common citizens, he said that if anyone, from anywhere, finds any case of violation of the Model Code of Conduct, they should immediately upload it on the Election Commission's app C Vigil. The Election Commission will take cognizance of it and ensure action within 100 minutes. He said that since the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, illegal materials and cash worth Rs 7 crore 72 lakh have been seized.