Dakha by-election: Randomisation of EVM’s held in presence of representatives of political parties

Ludhiana, October 5, 2019: The first round of randomisation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was held in the presence of political representatives, here today. The randomisation was held in the presence of District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agrawal, Expenditure Observer Aroolanandan, SSP Ludhiana Rural Sandeep Goyal, ADC (G) Iqbal Singh Sandhu, ADC (Khanna) Jaspal Singh Gill, Returning Officer Amrinder Singh Malhi, besides representatives of different candidates. While providing information on the occasion, Agrawal stated that the candidates should ensure that the register mentioning expenditure by candidates should be maintained on day to day basis. He said that the checking of election expenditure would be done thrice and if the expenditure exceeds the limit set by Election Commission of India, then strict legal action would be initiated against that particular candidate. He said that the list of all rates of all commodities used during canvassing has already been provided to the candidates. He further said that 48 before the polling of votes, he stated that the candidate can carry out door to door canvassing. During that period, the candidate can have only three vehicles (including his own) in the convoy and each vehicle can have only five persons including the driver. Similarly, for advertising in print and electronic media, pre-certification by district level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) is must during that period. He said that all election related activities can be carried out only after taking due permissions. Today’s meeting was attended by Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Manpreet Singh Ayali’s representative Harmeet Singh, Congress candidate Capt Sandeep Singh Sandhu’s legal representative Harpreet Sandhu, Nationalist Justice Party candidate Balvir Aggarwal, Jaspal Singh from District Congress Committee, Simrandeep Singh from Apna Punjab Party, Col DS Grewal, besides several others. On this occasion, Agrawal assured that the election would be held in a free and fair manner, without any fear. He also urged the candidates and their representatives to inform him if they get to know about any election violation.