Guwahati, 6 Mar: A team of officials of the Election Commission of India on Wednesday held a review meeting with all district election officers (DEOs), superintendents of police (SPs) and others to assess the poll preparedness in Assam.
According to an official release, the team, led by Deputy Election Commissioner Hirdesh Kumar along with Senior Principal Secretary N N Butolia, Director Pankaj Srivastava and Secretary N T Bhutia, interacted with all officers who apprised them of the status of poll preparedness in their respective districts.
Along with the DEOs and SPs, Guwahati police commissioner, DIGs and senior civil administration officials took part in the meeting, it added.
“Issues related to the status of distribution of EPICs, provisions made in polling stations, availability of EVM/ VVPATs and manpower, SVEEP activities being carried out to increase voter turnout, training of manpower, deployment of security forces and election expenditure were discussed during the meeting,” the release said.
SVEEP is the flagship programme of the Election Commission for voter education and spreading awareness.
The deputy election commissioner directed all the officials to ensure that the polling in Assam must be conducted in a free and fair manner with high voter turnout.
The ECI team, which is on a two-day visit to the state, met Chief Secretary Paban Kumar Barthakur and secretaries of various government departments on Tuesday evening.
The team also held a meeting with Assam Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel and State Police Nodal Officer P K Bhuyan to review the poll preparedness.
Also present in the meeting were State CAPF Nodal Officer Akhilesh Kumar Singh and Nodal Officer (Election Expenditure) Dilip Kumar Dey.
On the first day of its visit, the ECI team also met representatives of various central enforcement agencies and reviewed the poll preparedness to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the state. (PTI)