PANJIM: Election Commissioner of India Ashok Lavasa, who was in Goa to oversee the preparedness of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, said that Shiroda and Mandrem by-polls were not on the agenda.
“This (the visit) was not to discuss on the by-elections but to generally see the state of preparedness for the Lok Sabha elections especially since the work of voters’ registration is going on. We have taken stock of the situation and found that the Chief Electoral Officer (Kunal) and his team are doing the work as per the procedure. Most of the work is complete and the publication of the draft rules will take place on January 4, 2019,” Lavasa informed reporters after a series of meetings with the officials of the ECI, State administration and the Goa Police on the concluding day of his two-day visit to Goa on Saturday.
The ECI also reviewed the availability of EVMs, VVPAT and the awareness programmes undertaken under SVEEP activities.
He said that the objective to carry out the awareness programmes is to involve the community and the people at large.
“We want to make them understand various procedures, changes taken place, and also to see that all the stakeholders, including the political parties, are satisfied with the procedures which are being followed and the progress that have been achieved,” he said.
The meeting also attended by Director General of Police Muktesh Chander, Inspector General of Police Jaspal Singh, District Election Officers Tariq Thomas and Levinson Martins further deliberated on special summary revision 2019, disposal of various claims and objections, health of electoral roll and measures to be taken out for accessible election.
The Election Commissioner desired that the motto of ‘No Voter to Be Left Out’ should be followed in true spirit and continuous revision be carried out with full vigour. He also stressed upon identification and marking of persons with disability (PWD) electors and marking them in software for having targeted plan for their effective participation.
A booklet on Accessible Election Plan for Goa drafted by Dr Taha Haazik, OSD to Social Welfare Department was released during his meet.
