New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar was on a tour of Gujarat on Tuesday to prepare for the Gujarat Assembly elections. After taking stock of the preparations, Rajiv Kumar held a press conference in Gandhinagar. During the press conference, he told that there are about 4.83 crore registered voters in Gujarat and 51,782 polling stations will be set up in 182 assembly constituencies for the coming elections.
Along with this, the Chief Election Commissioner also gave special guidelines regarding candidates with criminal images. He said that if a party has fielded a candidate with a criminal background, they will have to explain what was the compulsion that they had to choose such candidates. They have to tell this in their social and print media.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, “Political parties will have to give justification for selecting a candidate with a criminal background. Such candidates will have to advertise their criminal records thrice so that citizens can make informed decisions.”
Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and Election Commissioner Anoop Chandra Pandey held a meeting with the enforcement agencies and discussed the topic of conducting free and smooth conduct of upcoming assembly elections. The Election Commission team held a meeting with officials in Gujarat on Monday. The Election Commission said that 17,506 polling booths would be set up in the city while 34,276 polling booths would be set up in the village. Along with this, 182 model polling booths will be built. These booths will be in each assembly constituency. Whereas on average 934 voters can cast their votes at each polling station.
Apart from the administrative officials of the state, the Election Commission team also met representatives of the BJP and Congress. Along with this, he was also asked to give his suggestions regarding the conduct of the state assembly elections.
Elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are expected to be completed by the end of November. In Gujarat, the assembly elections can be completed in two phases, and in Himachal Pradesh in one phase. It is being told that the team of the Election Commission is satisfied with the preparations for the elections.
