Gangtok 17 March : The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Sikkim, Mr D Anandan, IAS, called a press conference at the conference hall of the Office of Election Department, today. Present during the Press Conference was Additional Chief Electoral Officer Mrs Pema Lhaden Lama alongside Joint Chief Electoral Officer Mr Shyam Pradhan.
The CEO informed that the purpose of this Press Conference was to disseminate information on General Elections 2024 to Lok Sabha and Sikkim Legislative Assembly. As per the direction of Election Commission of India the schedule for elections for Sikkim is that the notification will be issued on 20th March, the last date for filing of nominations will be on 27th March, the scrutiny of nominations will be held on 28th March.
Similarly, the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is on 30th March, the date of polls is on 19th April followed by counting of votes for Sikkim Legislative Assembly on 2nd June and for Lok Sabha on 4th June and the date before which elections shall be completed is on 6th June, 2024. It was also mentioned that no nominations will be accepted during public holidays.
The CEO notified that there are a total of 4,63,929 voters in Sikkim as on 16/03/2024, out of which there are 2,32,381 male voters and 2,31,545 female voters and 03 third gender voters. Under service voters there are a total of 2,469 male voters and 33 female voters, totaling to 2,502 voters. There are a total of 4,192 PwD voters all over the State and a total of 2,473 Senior Citizen electors above 85 years. In addition the CEO said that Assured Minimum Facilities along with accessibility friendly infrastructure for PwDs and senior citizens will be made available in all polling stations. Moreover, for voters under essential services such as Health, PHE, Power, Media and others, he said that they are also eligible for postal ballots.
The CEO mentioned that the State has a total of 573 Polling stations with 88 polling stations falling under urban areas and 485 in rural areas. Adequate CAPF Forces and Micro-Observers will be deputed at critical polling stations which will also have webcasting arrangements.
Highlighting, the role of women in the electoral process the CEO said that 32 women polling teams has been proposed in the State. Similarly, a Polling Station managed by them is being set up at Gangtok district. He also stated that there will be 06 model polling stations.
He further informed 81 Sector Magistrates, 71 Sector Police Officers, 97 Flying Squads, 89 Static Surveillence Teams, 62 Video Surveillence Teams and 32 Assistant Expenditure Observers have been appointed to maintain Law and Order and enforce the Model Code of Conduct.
Briefing, about the counting centers in the six districts of the State, the CEO detailed the locations of the Counting Centres as follows:
Name of the District, Name of Counting Centre
Gyalshing
Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Kyongsa, Gyalshing
Soreng
Government B.Ed College, Soreng (Annexure Building)
Namchi
Government College, Kamrang, Namchi
Gangtok
DIET College Burtuk, DIET College Auditorium, SCERT Old Building and SCERT New Building
Pakyong
Dikling Senior Secondary School
Mangan
District Administrative Centre, Pentok and District Election Officer, Pentok
With a strategic focus on increasing voter participation and engagement in the state, the CEO appraised about the various IT application to usher in greater citizen participation and transparency namely Suvidha App, Know Your Candidate (KYC) App and C-Vigil App:
Suvidha App: This app provides facility to candidates/ political parties to apply for permission for meetings, miking, campaign vehicles and others.
Know Your Candidate (KYC) App: This app allows the citizens to get details about the nominated candidates.
C-Vigil App: Citizens can make online complaints with GPS location and pictures.
The CEO also said that for the convenience of the voters they can check their names in the electoral roll through Voters Helpline App or Voters Portal (voters. eci.gov.in). A Voter guide will be distributed to each household at the earliest and a voter information slip will also be given to the voters in advance. He also stated that if the voters do not possess an EPIC card then they can use alternate documents for identification in order to vote. The alternate documents that the voters can show are Aadhaar Card, PAN Card, Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card, Service Identity Card, Passbook with photo by Bank/Post Office, Health Insurance Smart Card (M/o Labour), Driving License, Passport, Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR, Pension Document, Official identity card issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs and MNREGA Job Card.
