Punjab: Chief Electoral Officer reiterates commitment to holding fair and peaceful elections in state

Chandigarh: With the aim of ensuring a level playing field for parties and candidates during the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in the state, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C said that an impressive 12,583 permission requests from political parties and candidates were received, of which 9,616 accepted by the concerned officers in their respective districts, Only 378 applications are pending, according to an official statement from Information and Public Relations Department, Punjab issued on Friday.
A total of 1,656 requests were rejected, 318 applications are in progress and 615 were cancelled as of May 23, it said.
Giving further details, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C on Friday said that 10 applications for air balloons were approved, 144 for door-to-door canvassing, 25 applications for helicopter and helipad use, 9 applications for loudspeaker permits and 555 applications for opening temporary party offices were approved.
The CEO added that 59 applications for pamphlet distribution were approved, 54 applications for permission for video vans, 2083 applications for permission to hold meetings, and loudspeaker permits were approved. For meetings without loudspeakers, 279 applications were approved. Similarly, 2653 applications for street corner meetings and loudspeakers were accepted.
As many as 542 applications for displaying banners and flags were approved. For displaying posters, hoardings, and unipoles, 1228 applications were approved. For vehicles with loudspeaker permits, 759 applications were approved, while 174 applications for vehicle permits within Parliament Constituency were accepted," the CEO added.
He said that most applications were received from including Ludhiana (2078), Patiala received 1258, and Jalandhar 690 applications.
CEO Sibin C reiterated his commitment to conducting fair and peaceful elections and said that all preparations have been completed to ensure a level playing field for parties and candidates in the state, it said.
Notably, the elections on Chandigarh's Lok Sabha seat and Punjab's 13 Lok Sabha seats will take place in the seventh and final phase on June 1.
The voting will take place on seats of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, and Patiala and a lone seat of Chandigarh.
The first five phases of polling were held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20.
The next two rounds of voting will be held on May 25 and June 1.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases, in a six-week marathon running from April 19 to June 1. The counting and results will be announced on June 4.