Jammu, Oct 10: Chief Electoral Officer, J&K Hirdesh Kumar, conducted a meeting with the representatives of political parties regarding the conduct of Panchayat and Municipal By-Elections 2020 and several issues were deliberated in the meeting for the smooth conduct of the By-Elections. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, apprised all the representatives of political parties about the conduct of By-Election 2020 by mentioning that all the preparations have been finalised including providing all logistics and procurement of election material. The Panchayat By-Election 2020 will be conducted through Ballot Boxes on non-party basis, whereas Municipal Election will be conducted on party basis through M2EVMs and accordingly a detailed scheduled in this regard is being issued shortly. He further said that the continuous updation of Panchayat Electoral rolls w.r.t 01-01-2020 is under process with the aim that no eligible voter to be left behind unregistered, as far the updation of Municipal Electoral Rolls a Special summary revision is being conducted with the qualifying date as 01-01-2020. Regarding the free, fair and transparent conduct of election, CEO J&K assured all the political parties that Panchayat By-Election and Urban Local Bodies By-elections 2020 will be conducted in free, fair, transparent, ethical, participative and COVID safe manner. Several issues were raised by the representative of political parties including the deferment of the election due to COVID-19 , provision of adequate security as per actual threat perception and need without any party affiliation, and conducive atmosphere for the conduct of elections. In response CEO, J&K informed that the said By-Elections can’t be indefinitely deferred as the Govt., has now decided to conduct By Elections on the analogy of Assembly Elections being conducted in the country after observing all COVID-19 SOPs. He further assured that all COVID-19 related arrangements shall be ensured at polling stations including the provision of face masks, sanitizers, thermal scanners etc and proper social distancing will be ensured during the entire election process. Among the prominent Dr. Rama Kant Khajuria representative of Indian National Congress, Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman, J&K National Panthers Party, Narender Singh Raina representative of PDP and other officers/officials of CEO Office J&K attended the meeting.
