70k new voters in Sikkim’s 3.70 lakh electors ELECTION PROCESS UNDERWAY FULL-SWING, SAYS CEO

GANGTOK, 20 Mar: A total of 3,69,948 electors in Sikkim, out of whom 1,90,371 are males and 1,79,577 females, will get the chance to decide on the next State government on 12 April. Such election related data was shared by Chief Electoral Officer D Anandan at a press conference here today. The number of voters has increased from 3,00,165 in the 2009 general elections to 3,69,948 now.

It was informed today that the constituency with the highest number of voters is Chujachen with 15,402 voters, out of whom 7,819 are males and 7,583 females. Similarly, the constituency with the fewest voters is Lachen-Mangan with just 6,868 voters. Interestingly, as with other two constituencies of North Sikkim, the number of women voters is higher in Lachen-Mangan than males; it has 3,307 male voters and 3,561 females.

The CEO added that the total number of voters in the state had increased by approximately 70,000 electors in the past five years. It was stated today that the figure provided also includes new voters and deletions due to death or other causes.

He further said that in view of the increase in number of voters, the election commission has setup 45 new polling stations this time as compared to the previous elections and also extended the time for voting from 7am to 5pm. It was also said that there were 133 polling stations in the West district, 154 in South district, 207 in East and 44 in North district.

The CEO went on to add that there are 33 critical polling stations in the East district, 51 in West, 08 in North and 29 in South Sikkim as identified by the concerned SPs of all the four districts. He added here that the number of critical polling stations could rise depending on the ground situation.

He also stated that every constituency will have 2 flying squads and one surveillance team to assist in the conduction of free and fair polls. He went on to add that the state had received 2000 EVMs from Bangalore out of which only 1240 will be used during the polls. He said that 10 percent of the remaining EVMs will be kept on reserve and the rest will be shifted to different states as per the requisitions.

Speaking on the manpower being used during the elections, he stated that 3,500 government employees and another 5,000 police personnel will be required during the polls. Out of the 5,000 personnel from the police, 20 percent will be exclusively reserved for poll duty. With six people, 1 presiding and 5 polling officers in one group a total of 538 groups will be dispatched for election duty all over the state.

He also stated that the district headquarters will have a control room each during the polls for the convenience of the voters. He added here that the counting centres for each district has been identified as TNA for East, Zilla Bhawan in North, Gyalshing Girls Sr.Secondary school in West and Namchi Sr Secondary school in South Sikkim.

While speaking on the preparedness and various activities like voters enrolment camps, trainings and SVEEP activities conducted by the election commission the CEO stated, “The official gazette notification for the conduct of elections has been notified by the Election Commission and the process of nominations has already begun which means that the entire mechanism is in place and the election process is moving in full-swing.”

The CEO who was accompanied by the SCEO, LP Pandey and ACEO, Anil Raj Rai stated today that as per the guidelines of the ECI, all formalities like the issue of the gazette notification were being completed simultaneously. He added that with the gazette notification now issued by all the concerned Returning Officers (RO) in all the four districts, the election process is underway.

As per the State Election Commission there are only three recognized national political parties in the state which include Bharatiya Janta Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian National Congress. Similarly, Sikkim Democratic Front party is the only state registered recognized political party in Sikkim while Sikkim Gorkha Prajatantric Party, Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad Party, Sikkim Janashakti Party, Sikkim Jan-Ekta Party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Sikkim National Liberation Front, Sikkim Sangram Parishad and Sikkim Pradesh Trinamool Congress come under the state registered unrecognized political parties in the state.

It was also informed that as per the new provision in the symbols allotment order, reservation of symbols have been allotted to three different parties. SSP have been allotted a ring, SKM a table lamp and Secular Democratic Labour Party of India has been allotted an auto rickshaw.