Use Suvidha portal to obtain permissions- District Election Officer to political parties 

Ludhiana, March 15, 2024: District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Sakshi Sawhney, on Friday directed all political parties to apply for permissions through the Suvidha online portal. This portal is a one-stop solution for all kinds of permissions, including meetings, rallies, vehicles, loudspeakers, and others.

Accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Additional District Election Officer Anmol Singh Dhaliwal, SDM Deepak Bhatia, Assistant Commissioners Krishna Pal Rajpoot, Upinderjeet Kaur Brar, Sawhney said that Suvidha was a single-window clearance for getting permissions from the election authorities. She emphasized that political parties must avoid any campaign that incites mutual hatred. Additionally, no religious place should be used for campaigning. The venue and time of political rallies and processions must be informed well in advance to avoid any mismanagement.

The District Election Officer assured that the administration is committed to ensuring free, fair, and peaceful polls in the district and urged all political parties to extend their support and cooperation to the district administration for conducting free, fair, and transparent elections.

Meanwhile, in another meeting with heads of various departments, Sawhney told the government departments' heads not to initiate any new work in their respective areas once the Election Commission of India announces the general elections. Violating this directive will be considered a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Starting new development works in the district will be completely prohibited after the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct. Only on-going development works that were started before the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct would be allowed. She also asked them to submit the details of on-going works with her office. Additionally, fresh enrolment under various social security schemes, welfare programs, and others would be totally banned.

Sawhney also warned the officers and officials that none of the government employees should involve themselves in political activities. If anyone is found participating in the meetings of any political party or candidate, strict action will be taken against them. Moreover, government buildings, properties, assets, and official vehicles must not be used for electioneering.

Later, the District Election Officer also held a meeting with all Assistant Returning Officers and issued directions to ensure strict enforcement of Model Code Of Conduct in their constituencies. She also gave detailed instructions to the nodal officers to keep strict vigil of poll expenditure of candidates during the election process. She said that ECI had set an expenditure limit of Rs 95 lakh for every candidate to spend during the 2024 general elections, thereby all team members must be acquainted with the methodology to calculate the poll expenditure. She also said that the rates of every item had been duly fixed by the Election Commission adding that to further assist these teams, several Flying Squad Teams (FST), Static Surveillance Team (SST), Video Surveillance Team (VST), and Video Viewing teams (VVT) were already formed by the administration.