Filing of nominations from today

Yadadri-Bhongir: District Collector Anita Ramachandran has informed that all measures were taken in the seven Assembly segments of Bhongir Lok Sabha constituency for the successful conduct of elections sans any issues.

On Sunday, she inaugurated the media centre at the Collectorate. Addressing the scribes, she said that all political parties must follow the model code of conduct without fail as the nominations would be filed from Monday. Static surveillance, video surveillance, flying teams were constituted to implement the model code of conduct perfectly, she added.

Excluding government holidays, the nominations papers would be received from March 18 to 25 between 11 am and 3 pm, she informed. Only five members would be allowed with a candidate to the Returning Officer's chamber at the time of filing of nominations, she said.

Permissions to meetings, rallies and vehicles for publicity would be given as per the guidelines and through single window system, she informed. All the vehicles of the candidates must stall at a distance of 100 meters during the filing of nominations.

As per the guidelines of Election Commission, the contesting candidates belonging to SC and ST have to pay Rs 12,500 as security deposit and others have to deposit Rs 25,000 along with recent passport size photos and bank passbook details have to be attached to the application during the filing of nominations. It is mandatory to fill all columns in the nomination papers to avoid rejection by the Returning Officer, she added.

She stated that the district administration has decided to conduct voter awareness programmes under 20 polling station limits in Bhongir as town witnessed below 75 per cent voting in Assembly elections held in December last. Further, duplicate voters were eliminated by Booth Level Officers after the careful examination by providing Form-7.

Emphasising on ethical voting, district administration is going to take the help of parents in order to teach their children about the importance of voting, she added. All basic amenities including lighting, drinking water, toilets, wheel chairs and ramps for disabled and elder voters would be arranged, she said.

She advised people to bring the violations of model code of conduct through C-Vigil app and assured to take action within 100 minutes if it is found to be correct. Similarly, she stated that people could call on toll free number 1950 from morning 9 am to 9 pm to seek any information with regard to elections.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Bhujanga Rao informed that it was mandatory for every contestant of Bhongir LS constituency to get permission in advance for rallies, meetings and publicity vehicles. Cases will be filed against violators. As part of security arrangements, apart from local police, the central police also render their services. Special officer Priyanka, Joint Collector Ramesh, District Revenue Officer Venkat Reddy and others attended the press meet.