RO Jammu-Poonch constituency reviews poll preparedness with AROs, Nodal Officers

Jammu: With an aim to ensure successful holding of upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Returning Officer Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary constituency, Ramesh Kumar Monday reviewed the progress being made by the concerned Assistant Returning Officers and Nodal officers in a meeting held here.
The meeting was attended by all the AROs and the Nodal Officers of the Jammu district.
Enquiring about the distribution of control units, ballot units, voter verifiable paper audit trails etc assembly segments-wise, the Returning Officer took the reports from all the AROs including any deficiency, scanning process and availability of supplementary material. He said that any deficiency should be brought to his notice immediately.
The Returning officer stressed that all the Assistant Returning officers should go through the RO/ARO handbooks, EVM VVPAT manuals including all the relevant annexures, guidelines and instructions of the Election Commission of India.
Enquiring about the preparations of Strong Rooms, he stressed that all the formalities including installation of CCTVs, double locking etc should be ensured.
Emphasising upon the focus on the EVM preparation, RO said that each and every machine be mock polled and checked properly and defective machines should be kept separately. He further stated Pink paper seal on the ballot units, masking and unmasking of units, proper linking of the units, proper fixing and sealing of ballot papers and sufficient number of batteries for the control unit should be ensured. Different registers for the EVMs and VVPAT should be maintained properly. Directions were passed to all the AROs to prepare EVMS by 6th of April.
For the conduct of mock polls, Returning officer stressed that the five percent of mock poll should be conducted with a minimum of 1000 votes and with a vote to every candidate and to NOTA option. The ballot papers should be fixed and sealed properly. He also passed instructions that the AROs must be present during the EVMs preparation and to resolve judicially any issues that may arise during the conduct of the mock poll.
RO also stressed that the electoral rolls working copy should be properly sealed, service voter list should be available, web casting of polling stations, absentees, shifted and dead to be marked properly, three copies of electoral rolls to be provided at every polling stations.
Focusing on the poll day arrangements, RO stressed that distribution plan should be made well in advance, Polling stations locations should be timely gathered, water supply, shed availability as well as availability of fire extinguishers, marking of polling stations should be clearly visible and hassle free for voters. Model polling stations should be identified properly and all facilities at these stations should be ensured.
Highlighting the importance of communication and transportation plans, the RO passed necessary directions for completing their formalities well in advance.
RO also enquired about the voter slip distribution through the concerned BLOs and epic printing rate and distribution and also passed directions to complete the same well in advance.
Kumar passed necessary directions to all the AROs to constitute the sectoral and zonal magistrates and to submit the list by tomorrow and to ensure that sufficient number of sectoral magistrates are in place.
Enquiring about the facilities provided to the persons with disabilities, RO said that wheel chair distribution should be done rationally keeping in view the number of PWDs at the polling stations. He was informed in the meeting that ramps have been made available at all the polling stations.
RO also enquired about the contingency plan for border belt polling stations. He was informed that steps have been taken to ensure smooth exercise of franchise on polling day. He also stressed that proper route chart should be prepared and if required issues this connection should be brought to his notice timely. He also passed directions to the AROs to keep themselves updated about the SUVIDHA and c-VIGIL app and to address them properly.