The Election Commission of India, in its notification, said the counting of votes of all the three seats — Brajarajnagar, Thrikkakara and Champawat — will be held on June 3.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday notified the bypolls in three Assembly constituencies of Odisha, Kerala and Uttarakhand and scheduled the polling date on May 31. In Odisha, polling will be held in the Brajarajnagar Assembly seat, in Kerala, the election will be held in the Thrikkakara seat, and in Uttarakhand, the Champawat seat will go to polls.
The ECI, in its notification, said the counting of votes of all the seats will be held on June 3. The last date of withdrawal of candidature has been set on May 16 for the Thrikkakara seat while for the Brajarajnagar and Champawat seats, the same is on May 17. The last date of nominations has been fixed for May 11 for all the seats.
In a statement, the poll panel said, “The Commission has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in the bye-elections in all the polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.”
ECI also said that all electoral activities will be strictly complied according to the Covid-19 guidelines issued by the authorities. “Social distancing and use of mask, sanitizers, thermal scanning, face shield, hand gloves, etc, will be as per Covid-19 protocols and have to be complied with,” the poll panel said.
The statement added, “If a candidate or political party violates any of the above guidelines, no more permission shall be given to the concerned candidate/party for rallies, meetings etc. If any star campaigner violates the COVID protocols, he shall not be allowed to campaign further in that constituency/district.”
“Candidates with criminal antecedents are required to publish information in this regard in newspapers and through Television channels on three occasions during the campaign period. A political party that sets up candidates with criminal antecedents is also required to publish information about criminal background of its candidates, both on its website and also in newspapers and Television channels on three occasions,” the statement further said.