Elections 2024: 50% polling stations in Odisha to have webcasting facility

Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday said it is fully prepared to conduct the upcoming Lok Sabha as well as Odisha Assembly elections.

Addressing a press meet in Bhubaneswar, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said arrangements are being made for putting in place webcasting facility in 50 per cent of the polling stations in the state.

“We are fully prepared for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections. All the preparations are almost complete and we urge all voters to come and participate in this festival of democracy,” he said.

Stating that there will be webcasting facility in more than 50 per cent of polling stations in the state, the CEC said that out of 37809 polling stations, there will be webcasting arrangements in 22,685 polling stations.

Stressing that the polling stations will be under close watch with webcasting arrangements, the CEC said quick action would be ensured whenever any trouble is reported from any booth during polling.

Emphasising the need for free and fair polls, Kumar said it is a non-negotiable requirement from the Election Commission that all the DMs, SPs, IGs should remain impartial, transparent, and equally accessible to all political parties.

The CEC also informs about the following directions issued to district collectors and SPs:

• Be absolutely impartial, transparent, accessible to all parties equally & ensure level playing field
• Ensure impartiality at junior officials working at cutting edge level for level playing field
• No place for violence in the electoral arena
• Vehicles used to ferry cash will be strictly under watch
• Strict separation between official & political events
• 3-tier security at district EVM-VVPAT warehouses should be ensured at all times
• EVMs to be sealed properly
• Polling agents to get details of votes polled at polling stations
• Paid news & candidates using their own publications & channels for campaigning will be watched & added towards election expense
• Govt machinery should not be used for promotion of party events & advertisements