SHOPIAN: Following the announcement of the Election schedule by the Election Commission of India on the 16th of March, the District Election Officer Shopian in a Press statement announced the imposition of the Model code of conduct in the district with immediate effect.
As per the schedule, the elections in the district shall be held in two phases. For 36-Zainapora Assembly constituency which is part of 3-Anantnag Rajouri, the polling shall be on 07-05-2024 and for the 37-Shopian Assembly constituency which is part of 2-Srinagar PC, the polling shall be held on 13-05-2024.
Directions have been given to prevent the misuse of official vehicles and for removal of references of Ministers and politicians from official websites and the MCC teams have been urged to ensure compliance of provisions related to the defacement of property in letter and spirit. The SOPs have been issued for the public servants as well as the political parties.
The District Election Officer has issued directions to the printing presses to furnish information about the material being printed under sec.127A of the RP Act 1951. He also made an appeal in print and electronic media for the benefit of the general public about the monitoring mechanism of the election expenditure with the mention of sections 171 B and 171c of the IPC which has been put in place.
The District Election Officer (District Magistrate) has also imposed a ban on the issuance and carrying of licensed arms. The directions have been issued to the Law enforcement Agencies to make a detailed and individual review and assessment of all licence holders so that all licenced arms in those cases were considered essential are impounded in order to ensure the maintenance of law and order for the conduct of free and fair elections.
A meeting with the political parties has been scheduled in order to brief them about all the legal provisions and instructions. A meeting has also been arranged with bankers for facilitation in the opening of bank accounts by candidates and issuing chequebooks to them. Suspicious transactions exceeding 10 lakhs will also be discussed.
