Chandigarh, February 19: Pick-up and drop facility will be provided to senior citizens and persons with disabilities to and from polling booths, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju said on Saturday, a day ahead of the elections to the 117-member state assembly. Addressing the media here, Raju said the state machinery is working round the clock to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections.

Polling will be held from 8 am till 6 pm, said a functionary of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). Results of the Punjab assembly polls will be declared on March 10, along with those of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa.

Replying to a question, Raju said pick-up and drop facility to and from polling booths will be provided to senior citizens, elderly and persons with disabilities (PwD) for voting. Arrangements in this regard has been made in each assembly constituency, he added. Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: Over 2.14 Crore Voters to Decide Fate of 1,304 Candidates on 117 Seats Tomorrow.

“There can be battery-run vehicles, auto rickshaws and minivans,” Raju said, adding that young people casting their votes for the first time, will be given flowers. He urged electors to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour at polling stations and added that masks, gloves and sanitisers will be provided.

Dustbins and coloured bags will be placed for disposal of Covid- waste material, the CEO said.

He said that food and refreshments will be provided to all polling staff.

On whether a voter should carry Covid vaccination certificate to a polling station, Raju said, “There should be no confusion. Voting does not have any connection with vaccination.”

A person carrying his voter card has a right to cast his vote, he added.

To a question on deployment of security personnel for the polls, the CEO said that 700 companies of central armed police forces have been deployed.

Besides, the state police personnel will also be in duty, he added.

Out of the total 1,304 candidates in the fray, 93 are women and two transgenders, while 461 are constesting the elections as Independents, Raju said. As many as 28,328 ballot units and 24,740 EVM-VVPATs are being used in this election, he said. There are six assembly constituencies -- Kharar, Sahnewal, Ludhiana South, Payal, Patiala Rural and Patiala -- with two ballot units, he added.

There are 24,740 polling stations in the state and out of them, 2,013 have been identified as critical, while as many as 196 will be pink polling stations for women and 70 will be managed by PwDs, Raju said. He said webcasting of all polling stations will be done.

A total of 2.50 lakh people including polling staff, security men and others, have been deployed for the Sunday polls, he said. The budget size of the elections was pegged at Rs 340 crore, Raju said. Ever since the model code of conduct came into force, various enforcement teams have made seizures of liquor, unaccounted cash and psychotropic substances worth Rs 500.70 crore. Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: From Charanjit Singh Channi to Bhagwant Mann, Here Are Seven Key Candidates For The Polls.

In view of the polls, a ban on sale of alcohol in Punjab started at 6 pm on February 18. It will end on February 20 after conclusion of polling. Raju also said that the ban extends to liquor vends falling in a radius of three kilometres from the Punjab border in neighbouring states of Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, and also the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

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