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Process For Assembly Elections 2004 In Maharashtra Set In Motion
News

By Sanjay Sharma, Section Election News
Posted on Wed Sep 15, 2004 at 09:30:35 PM EST

The process for conduct of assembly elections was set in motion by the district administration here on Wednesday by issuing the election notification for all the 18 constituencies in the district.

Barring September 18 (Ganeshchaturthi) and 19 (Sunday), nominations of candidates will be accepted till September 22. Scrutiny will be done on September 23 while withdrawal of nominations will be permitted till September 25. Political parties have been issued strict guidelines about the number of people who can accompany candidates for filing nominations and other dos and don’ts, Deshmukh stated.

Addressing a news conference Prabhakar Deshmukh, district collector, said that 452 new polling booths will be added to the 4,502 booths put up during the Lok Sabha elections. "The number of voters has gone up by over three lakh so additional polling booths were needed", he explained.

Deshmukh said that the election commission has permitted political parties for setting up one 'campaign office' per 100 polling booths in every constituency. "However they will have to take permission from the local police before putting up an office along with the returning officer", he said adding that use of loud speaker was not permitted in these offices which will function up to the voting day.

The Election Commision has also advised against political activities during the Ganesh Festival celebrations in Maharashtra, including the Pune Festival in Pune, as the model code of conduct is now in place due to offial election notification. (Click on "Full Story" for more.)

The election commission has relaxed the condition of procuring 50 per cent of the election staff from outside the district, Deshmukh revealed. "We can deploy staff of one constituency in other", he said adding that around 27,000 staff would be needed for the elections. Demonstration of electronic voting machines (EVMs) will commence after September 25 and we have approached Ganesh mandals for help in this matter. Video clippings about the use of EVM will also be shown on local cable channels and cinema halls.

Counting of votes will be done at Food Corporation of India godown at Koregaon park (Bhavani and cantonment constituency) and Shivajinagar for Kasba, Shivajinagar, Bopodi and Parvati constituencies.

Rajkumar Vatkar, deputy commissioner of police (special branch) who was present for the press conference said that as many as 4,645 police would be deployed in Pune city and district on voting day. Six battalions of state and central reserve police force will also be deployed. Vishnupant Munde, deputy superintendent of police (Pune rural) said that only 1,300 police were available for deployment in rural areas while the number of polling booths was 2,788. "We will procure additional manpower from home guards, NCC, ex-servicemen, forest guards, prohibition department officials and retired police officers", Munde stated.

From The Times of India - September 15, 2004
Election process set in motion - The Times of India

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+ Election process set in motion - The Times of India
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