East district Returning Officers to meet panchayat candidates on Friday

GANGTOK, 10 Oct: The East district collectorate has clarified that the 12 October meeting scheduled to be held at Chintan Bhawan at 10 AM for all contesting candidates in the panchayat elections for East district is being held as per the notification and guidelines of the Election Commission, Government of India.
The clarification comes in obvious response to media reports of a section of the Opposition voicing fears that the Chief Minister was planning to meet Independent candidates at Chintan Bhawan on Friday in what they saw a move to convince them to back down.
The DC explained that as per guidelines included by the State Election Commission in the Returning Officers Handbook, it is mandatory for the Returning Officers to have a meeting with all the contesting candidates to guide them in the election procedure and provide then identification cards and other election materials.
“All talk about the CM addressing the meeting is just merely a rumour and has nothing to do with the slated meeting. Actually, the meeting is a routine procedure that the district collectorate has to carry out as per the rules of election procedure. The meeting is purely an official one and I request all contesting candidates to be present at Chintan Bhawan”, said Mr Anandan.
Similar meetings will be conducted for each district by the respective district collectorates where candidates will be informed about the do’s and dont’s during the elections, he added while addressing a press conference here at his chamber this morning.
 The DC also informed that even in cases where the contesting candidates fail to attend the meeting, separate folders containing all the details along with the candidate’s ID cards will be issued from the District Collectorate’s office.
However, it is important that the candidates be present for the meeting along with two passport sized photographs since all information related to the elections like the EVMs will be disseminated during this meeting.  
The DC also informed today that panchayat elections for the East district will be held for 433 seats, 357 panchayat wards and 76 seats in Zilla Panchayat territorial constituencies. The break up of candidates contesting for Zilla panchayat seats are 26 [Sikkim Democratic Front], 2 [Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee] and 48 [Independent], similarly, a total of 150 SDF candidates, 1 Congress candidate and 206 independent candidates are in the fray for the elections in the gram panchayat wards in the East district.
A total of 8 Returning Officers for the panchayt elections including 1 for the Zilla Panchayt territorial constituencies have also been appointed, it was stated.
Further, it was stated that letters to attend the meeting have already been sent to the respective political parties while the Sector Magistrates who are the respective BDOs are telephonically calling all individual independent candidates regarding the same.
While informing that the Managing Director, State Bank of Sikkim, SK Silal has been appointed as the Election Observer for the East district it was mentioned that there will be a total of 260 polling stations in the district. For every polling station there will be a total of 4 polling and 1 presiding officer along with 2 constables from the Sikkim Police.
Similarly, TNA auditorium has been selected as the Contesting Booth for East district where strong rooms that house the EVM machines will also be set-up. These EVMs will be sent to the respective polling booths along with election materials on 02 November just before the polling day while the sealing of the same will be carried out on 21 and 22 October.
The DC has also stated that any candidate who wants to be part of the sealing process when the EVMs will be commissioned and prepared can be present at the auditorium on the said date to ensure transparency.
“We are in the process of holding free and fair elections in the district and 395 EVMs will be used during the process. We will also have reserve EVMs belonging to the Election Commission, GoI that will be brought through the State Election Commission to ensure a transparent election process. We have also kept 16 and 17 October as dates where the polling officers will be trained on the EVMs,” stated the DC.
Further, it was informed that a total of 300 taxis have been requisitioned for the panchayt polls in the East district and that the Roads and Bridges and the Power department have also been given standing instructions by the state election commission to open all roads and maintain power supply during the elections.