GUWAHATI, March 20 - A total of 599 nominations were received for the 65 constituencies going to the polls in the first phase in Assam and 13 of the nominations were rejected during scrutiny.
Addressing a press conference here today, Additional Chief Electoral Officers Nitin Khade, Gaurav Bothra, Siddharth Singh and Adil Khan told reporters that 586 nominations were found valid.
�We are still in the process of receiving the entire data. Tomorrow is the last day for withdrawal of nominations for the first phase and once that phase is over the entire picture will become clearer,� said Bothra.
Asked about break-up of nominations party-wise and gender-wise, the officers said the details will need some time to arrive.
Polling for the first phase covering 65 constituencies will take place on April 4.
Khade said various measures have been initiated, including use of information technology applications, to enforce the Model Code of Conduct.
�A total of 1,445 possible intimidators have been identified and action has been taken against 1,208 of them. A total of 24,151 licensed arms have been deposited and instructions have been issued to all District Electoral Officers and SPs to expedite the process. In addition, 86 pieces of illegal arms and 333 rounds of illegal ammunition have been seized and action taken against people under different sections of CrPC for possessing illegal weapons,� Khade said.
Singh said that 46 Expenditure Observers have been deputed to Assam by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and 396 teams of flying squads have been formed across the State consisting of magistrates, police personnel and videographer for tracking illegal cash transactions, liquor distribution and other illegal activities. The vehicles of the flying squads have been fitted with GPS.
Till yesterday evening, over Rs 2.95 crore cash, 4.33 lakh litres of liquor and 5.5 kg of drugs have been seized and cases have been registered against 1,185 persons. A total of 378 static surveillance teams and 126 video surveillance teams have also been deployed.
�A complaint monitoring control room and call centre with the number 1950 has been set up and is functioning 24x7 basis... A total of 34 expenditure sensitive constituencies and 401 expenditure sensitive pockets have been identified,� Singh said.
Air Intelligence Units have been set up in six airports located in Assam.
The �Savdhan� portal for monitoring the Model Code of Conduct has been developed by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, besides use of other ECI applications like �Samadhan� (for public grievance redressal) and �Suvidha� (to help candidates and parties for submitting application online seeking permission for activities related to poll campaign), said Khan.
The officials added that an ECI team will be visiting Assam on March 21-22 to take stock of poll preparations. During its visit, the team will meet representatives of political parties and various officials and also brief the media.
