Guwahati, March 6: A team of officials from the Election Commission of India held a review meeting with all District Election Officers (DEOs), Commissioner of Police, Guwahati City, Superintendents of Police (SPs), DIGs and other senior officials to assess the poll preparedness in the state ahead of the upcoming General Elections to the Lok Sabha, 2024 at a meeting held at a city hotel here today.
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 the officers who apprised them of the status of poll preparedness in their respective districts.
Issues related to 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, election expenditure, were discussed during the course of the meeting.
The Deputy Election Commissioner directed all the officials to ensure that the elections in the state of Assam are conducted in a free and fair manner with high voter turnout.
The ECI team, who is on a two-day visit to the state, met with the Chief Secretary to the Govt of Assam, Paban Kumar Barthakur, IAS, along with senior most secretaries of various Government departments on Tuesday evening.
The team also held a meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, Anurag Goel, IAS and IGP (L&O) & State Police Nodal Officer, Assam, P.K. Bhuyan, IPS and reviewed the poll preparedness at their end on Tuesday. Also present in the meeting were IG Police (TAP) & IG (Communication) & State CAPF Nodal Officer, Assam, Akhilesh Kumar Singh, IPS and IGP (WR), Bongaigaon & Nodal Officer, Election Expenditure, Assam, Dilip Kumar Dey, IPS.
On the first day of their visit, the team also met with representatives of various central enforcement agencies and reviewed the poll preparedness to ensure a free, fair and peaceful elections in the state.
