At the Assam Administrative Staff College, while communicating with the media, Nitin Khade, the Chief Electoral Officer mentioned that the by-polls will be taking place from 7 AM to 5 PM on the 30th of October.
Strict guidelines issued by Khade
The following are the issued guidelines by the commission:
The voting will start from early morning 7 AM and will close at 5 PM on that very day.
The gathering of public and organizing processions at the time of nomination filing is restricted.
Political parties are strictly warned against campaigning after 7 PM in the evening to 7 AM in the morning.
Only a maximum of 5 people is granted to go for house-to-house campaigns.
Roadshows, motor/bike/cycle rallies strictly prohibited
The number of star campaigners for national/state recognized parties has been given the limit of 20 and 10 for those of un-recognized registered parties in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total number of vehicles granted for a candidate/political party has been limited to 20 and the maximum number of people permitted per vehicle is 50 percent of that of the total capacity.
The silence period is 72 hours before the end of the poll.
A maximum of 2 vehicles with 3 persons each will be allowed on the day of the poll. Security will be provided as per the applicable existing guidelines.
All COVID-19 protocols such as social distancing and use of masks, sanitizers, thermal scanning, face shield, hand gloves, etc need to be strictly followed along with all kinds of activities.
If at any given point any candidate or political party violates any of the guidelines, the party will not be given permission for further rallies and meetings.
He shall not be allowed to campaign further in that constituency or district if a star campaigner violates any of the COVID protocols.
Before taking their services all polling personnel and election officials including the private people who shall be engaged in the election duties must be double vaccinated.
For each polling station, one health worker is to be appointed as COVID nodal officer.
Precautions to avoid the spread of Covid-19 taken: Khade
All the necessary precautions to avoid the spread of the coronavirus is taken, says Nitin Khade while addressing the media.
He also mentions that about 1.7 lakh polling personnel and staff were vaccinated towards the end of March.
