AMRITSAR:The election bell has rung in Punjab. Elections for the next Vidhan Sabha will be held on February 14 in Punjab. The results of the elections will be released on March 10. The day for filing nominations will start from January 21 and will be open till January 28. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on January 29. Names can be withdrawn till January 31.
February 14 has been set as the day for voting. Valentine's Day will be a day to see which party so many Punjabis embrace. Voting will take place on February 14. These votes were released by the Election Commission in 117 constituencies.
Assembly elections in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gao, Punjab and Manipur will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7 and counting of votes will take place. Location on March 10, Election Commission of India announced on Saturday.
Voting will take place in Uttar Pradesh on February 10, 14, 20, 23 and March 3 and 7; Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand will go to the polls on February 14; Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said that voting in Manipur would be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3.
Elections will be held after full covid protocol.
Until January 15, in view of the epidemic situation, no physical rally road shows, hiking or vehicle rallies will be allowed. All parties are advised to campaign in virtual mode.
Using Section 171 (1), Chandra said that the term of the Vidhan Sabha was coming to an end in five years and therefore elections were necessary.
According to the Covid Protocol for conducting elections, all election officials will be double vaccinated, given booster doses and will also be treated as frontline workers. The booths will be fully sanitized and gloves, sanitizers etc. will be available for the polling staff.
In the five constituencies, more than 150 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine, while 90 million people have received both vaccines.
Polling time has been extended by one hour in all the states.
The final voter lists were published on January 5. There are 18.34 crore voters including service voters. Of these, 8.55 crore are women. The Election Commission has tried to increase the number of voters and as a result, there has been an increase in all the states, with Uttar Pradesh having the highest increase in the number of voters.
There are a total of 24.5 lakh first-time voters and 30.47 lakh senior citizens. The Election Commission has reduced the number of voters per booth to 1, 250, resulting in an increase in the number of polling stations to 30, 334 as the average number of voters per polling booth has declined.
Chandra said that at least one booth in each constituency would be managed exclusively by women.
Earlier, Chandra said the commission had set three goals for the elections: covid-free elections, hassle-free voting experience and maximum voter turnout.
Election Commission teams have been preparing for the tour of the constituencies for at least six months.