BENGALURU: In preparation for the Gram Panchayat elections, to be held in the next couple of months, the Karnataka State Election Commission (SEC) has issued Standard Operating Procedures which mainly stress on maintaining social distance, virtual campaigning and also door-to-door campaigns not involving more than five people at a time. In the detailed SOPs, the SEC has mandated wearing of masks at polling booths as well as during campaigns.
Voters should use sanitiser before entering polling booths and undergo thermal screening and polling should be conducted in bigger rooms. Nomination forms of candidates and other documents should be stored in disinfected rooms, entry to which should be restricted, it said. During the filing of nomination, a candidate can be accompanied by only one person and they should maintain a distance of six feet from the Returning Officers.
If a Covidinfected person plans to contest, he can send his nomination papers through a nominee to the Returning Officer. Since the geographical area of a gram panchayats is smaller, a candidate can conduct door-to-door campaign, but cannot have more than five people, including himself, in the team. All those campaigning should wear masks and gloves and should not stand in crowds.
Also, no loudspeakers can be used during the campaign, the SEC said. Candidates have been advised to make use of electronic media for campaigning and contestants with Covid- 19 cannot undertake outdoor campaigning. The SEC has also limited the number of voters at each polling booth to 1,000. The polling booths should be sanitised with 1 per cent sodium hypochlorite solution before voters are allowed in.
On election day, polling officers should wear masks, face shields and gloves and should sanitise their hands. Voters without masks will not be allowed to exercise their franchise. They should maintain social distancing while standing in queue. Those who are in hospital or home quarantine will be allowed cast their vote through postal ballot.
GP POLL RESERVATION LIST POLITICALLY DONE: DEVE GOWDA
Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister and JDS Supremo H D Deve Gowda said the Gram Panchayat election reservation list is politically done and the JDS will fight against it in the coming days. Deve Gowda along with former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy interacted with JDS leaders and district and taluk presidents from Kalyana Karnataka region through a video conference on Thursday.
He told them that the party has to gear up to contest in the Gram Panchayat elections. He urged them to build the party during election time in a systematic way. “The reservation for Panchayat elctions has been announced. The list is prepared politically and is made against JDS,” he added. Speaking to The New Indian Express, MLA Bandeppa Kashempur said this government has changed the reservation favouring their party. Wherever JDS has an upper hand, the reservation has changed, he alleged.
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