Sikkim Herald

Gangtok, 17 Mar (IPR): District Election Officer, East has informed that all preparations have been made for Nomination Filing Period from 18-25 March.

On days of filing nominations, only three vehicles of the candidates will be allowed within 100m periphery of the East District Administrative Centre, Sichey.

There will be strict vigilance by District Police on any unauthorized entry and only one door will be allowed for people to enter.

Further, only the candidate and a maximum of four persons shall be allowed to enter inside the Returning Officer’s Chamber.

The filing of nominations for AC. No. 17 to 22 can be done in Chamber of Shri Bharani Kumar/IAS, ADC/East, who is the Returning Officer for these constituencies.

Nominations for AC. No. 23 to 28, 32 Sangha and for Parliament can be done in Chamber of Kapil Meena/ IAS, District Collector/East who is the Returning Officer for these constituencies.

Further, in the morning of 18 March, the first Randomization of EVMs and VVPATs will be carried out in the EVM Software in the presence of political party representatives. This Randomization will be done at District Collectorate at 9 am sharp followed by opening of Warehouse at the CEO Office Building, Baluwakhani.

The warehouse opening will also be done in the presence of political parties and thereafter EVMs and VVPATs meant for Polling Purpose will be shifted to the venue for Strong Rooms at Brihaspati Parsai Senior Secondary School, Ranipool.

The Strong Rooms for each of the Assembly Constituencies will be separate and will be under 24 X 7 CCTV Coverage and Double Lock System.

Adequate Police Security will be kept at Strong Rooms complex after keeping EVMs and VVPATs which will continue till the Election process is over. Fire Safety and all other ECI directions in this regard will be followed at the Strong Rooms.

Mangan, 17 Mar (IPR): M/S Diksha Audio Vision, Tibet Road, Gangtok performed street play on voter awareness at Mangan Bazaar today. The play was performed to generate awareness on election process like EVM & VVPAT machines, low vote cast, low female voter turn up, PwD voters and their facilities, etc., among public at large.

The skit was performed by the renowned artist, Mr. Timothy Rai, supported by seven other artists. According to ADC (Dev) Mangan-cum-Nodal Officer, SVEEP, Election Department, North, Shri K.R. Limboo, the street play successfully lingered on disseminating its message to the large number of gathering.

The programme was also attended by BLO, Mangan Bazaar, representatives of Election Department, Mangan, US (RMDD)-cum-Assistant Officer, SVEEP, Shri Hemant Khatiwara.

Mangan, 17 Mar (IPR): District Magistrate-cum-District Election Officer, Shri Raj K Yadav, called a press conference in his chamber today wherein he informed that the first Randomization of EVMs will be held on 18 March in the presence of all political parties at Zilla Bhawan as per the directions of Election Commission of India.

The entire process of randomization will be done through Election Management Software (EMS) and will be video graphed. After randomization all EVMs will be kept assembly constituency/assembly segment-wise. 

Thereafter, the EVMs located at Zilla Bhawan (NDZP) strong room will be shifted at newly constructed strong room at premises of the District Administration Centre, Mangan as per the direction of Election Commission of India.

The DEO informed that on 18 March after publication of notification of election by Election Commission of India, the notice of election will be issued by the Office of the District Collector, North; therefore all willing candidates are hereby informed that nomination papers can be collected with other related documents from the office of the District Collector, North.

Further, Only three numbers of vehicle in the convoy of the candidate or accompanying him are to be allowed to come within the periphery of 100 meters (main gate of District Administrative Centre) office of the Returning Officer, North. The maximum number of person who can be allowed to enter the office of returning officer at the time of filing nomination is to be limited to five (including candidate).

Further, Expenditure Observer, Shri Ravi Patel, Indian Railway and Account Service, is also arriving on 18 March in the district to monitor the progress and status of the preparedness of election and he may be contacted on 03592-234003 (landline) or 7586909224 (Mobile Phone) or one can meet him at North District Zilla Panchayat Guest House for any election issues.

Gangtok, 16 Mar (IPR) : In preparation for General Elections 2019, a training programme for Micro Observers appointed for the elections was conducted by Assistant Collector, Mr Rohan Agawane, at the Conference Hall of the District Collectorate, East, today.

Conducted in two batches with around 50 trainees, the training was conducted to equip them with their roles and responsibilities during the election process under the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.

Mr Agawane briefed the Micro Observers appointed for East District on their job profiles, election process and guidelines, instructions, polling materials like EVM, Electoral Rolls, etc.

During the training session, the Micro Observers were given hand-outs of instructions and guidelines and were familiarized with the election process through through videos and Power Point Presentations. They were also imparted with hands-on training for the EVMs and VVPATs.

Further, the District Election Officer/East informed that all preparations have been made for the Nomination Filing period starting from Monday. Adequate security arrangements are being made by District Police as per the instructions. All requirements for filing nominations have been notified at District Administrative Centre notice board and forms are made available at the chamber of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM)/Gangtok from yesterday onwards .

Gyalshing, 16 Mar (IPR): The sixth and the final day of the 2nd round of training for the final batch of Presiding and Polling Officers 1 was successfully conducted at the Conference Hall of Zilla Panchayat Bhawan in Gyalshing and at the Conference Hall of SDM Office in Soreng simultaneously.

Master trainers for the training in Gyalshing were Shri Tushar G. Nikhare, SDM (HQ), Smt K.S.C. Tongden, DE Power, and Shri Santosh Alley, Senior Welfare Officer.

Similarly for Soreng, master trainers were Shri Himmat Rai, SDM Soreng and Shri Dilip Sharma, DCSO (West).

A total of 97 trainees were present at Gyalshing for the training and similarly at Soreng there were 36 trainees.

Namchi, 16 Mar (IPR): Some significant facts outlining the overall scenario with regards to General Elections 2019 to Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies in Sikkim, the particular details of South District is that there are a total of eight Assembly Constituencies namely 09 Barfung, 10 Poklok – Kamrang, 11 Namchi – Singhithang, 12 Melli, 13 Namthang – Rateypani, 14 Temi -Namphing, 15 Rangyang-Yangang, 16 Tumin-Lingi which is located in the South district.

According to the South Election Department, the total number of voters for male is 58122 and female is 56684 totaling to 114806 as compared to the total number of voters during the General Election in the year 2014 which was 100643. It may be mentioned here that a cumulative number of 53 polling stations has been identified as critical in the district.

District Election Officer (DEO), South, Mr. Ragul K., informed about the activities and development for the ensuing General Elections and said that the Notice of Election will be issued on 18th March 2019. He informed that the nomination papers are to be delivered by a candidate or his proposer to the office of the DEO at District Administrative Centre, Namchi at the given stipulated time and date. He also added that the candidates are to submit Affidavit, Form 26, Oath of Affirmation, SC/ST Certificate in case of candidates belonging to the SC/ST category, certified copy of Electoral Roll (ER) and passport sized photos for printing photos in ballot paper.

Further, the DEO stated that the candidate is required to open one separate Bank Account in his name or jointly with his election agent before filing nominations and this account number has to be intimated in writing to the DEOs Office while filing nomination.

The candidate is required to make a security deposit of Rs.10,000/-only in cash or in the form of TDR for contesting in an Assembly Constituency. A candidate belonging to SC/ST category is required to make a security deposit of only half the amount mentioned above.

Additionally, he informed that sample form are being distributed and the same can be collected from DAC, South.

Gangtok, 15 March(IPR): A two day training for officials and staff comprising of the Expenditure Monitoring Committee for the General Elections 2019 concluded today.

Held at the District Collectorate Complex, the training was conducted by Assistant Collector / East Mr Rohan Agawane with assistance from the Accounts Officer.

The training was conducted in 3 batches, each comprising of six teams of Assistant Expenditure Officers, Accounting Teams, Flying Squads, Static Surveillance Teams, Video Surveillance Teams and Video Viewing Teams.

Mangan, March 15 (IPR):
Three days long District level “School Sports Meet” 2018-19 was started from 14th of March in North district. The meet will be concluded on 16th of March 2019. Altogether eight different disciplines such as Athletics, Archery, Badminton, Boxing, Football, Karate, Table Tennis and Taekwondo were played at different venues of the district. Said sports meet was organized by Human Resource Development department in collaboration with Sports and Youth Affairs Department, Government of Sikkim. The meet was organized for the students of below 17 years of age.
Table Tennis, Taekwondo and Badminton were played at Mangan Nagar Panchayat Hall. Final match of district level Table Tennis for the boy’s category was won by Chungthang Block and in girl’s category Mangan Block won the match. In total 34 students from four Block had participated in Table Tennis. Similarly in Taekwondo 7 boys and 7 girls were selected for state level meet.
Final match of the district level Football won by Mangan Block in both categories, which was played on 14th of March at Mangan, Public ground. District level boxing will be played at Mangshila on 16th of March.
As informed by Mrs. Janim Lepcha, Deputy Director, Sports and Youth Affairs Department, North that district level Sports Meet was participated by the students of different school from four Blocks of the district. She further said that the selected players in different disciplines of the district level meet will perform in the forthcoming state level sports meet 2018-19 which will be held at State capital, Gangtok from 18th–22nd March.

Gangtok, 14 Mar (IPR): As the general elections are springing up with much enthusiasm among the voters and curiosity among the first time voters, a Voters Facilitation Centre has been set up at M.G. Marg in Gangtok in order to sensitise the public regarding any queries related to their respective electoral polls and to provide requisite information.

More than 200 people have visited the facilitation centre and availed facilities regarding the EVMs, VVPATs and online verification of names in voters list.

The Voter Facilitation Centre is being managed by staff of Office of CEO, Balwakhani and DEO, East.