Some Important Issues on conduct of WBLA-2016 Election

New instructions regarding Presiding Officer (PrO) Diary etc. As per order No:464/WB-LA/2016 Dt: of Election Commission of India, after the last voter as voted, the “Close” button of CU shall be invariably pressed and the precise time of poll should be indicated in the PrO diary in Sl No: 18A which will be either new inserted or stamped on PrO diary as “18A: Time of closure of the Poll…………. PM” In Annexure 37A i.e. Additional Inputs to be given by PrO another column is to be either stamped or Hand-written as Column 17 under Time of Closure of Poll. In the declaration by PrO, the time of End of Poll as displayed in the CU should invariably be mentioned by PrO under his/her signature. As per existing instructions, after the last elector has voted, a line is made after the last entry in 17A with Red Colour Pen and Presiding Officer is required to sign and indicate the total number of votes cast. Agents of candidates are also permitted to sign. It has been declared that the time of closure of poll shall also be mentioned there. Similarly in the address tag, also time of closure of poll shall be mentioned by the Presiding Officer. Polling agents of candidates should be allowed to sign on address tag, if willing.

Mock Poll is mandatory, if there is no Mock-Poll there will be no Poll. Prepare Mock Poll Certificate properly and get it signed by the Polling Agents present but do not wait for them if they are absent upto 6:30 AM as Poll should start by 7 AM. Be very careful to erase Mock-Poll result doing C-R-C before preparing EVM for actual Poll. Issues on Mock Poll

List of alternative documents 1.Passport 2.Driving License 3.Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by PSU/Public Ltd. Companies 4.Passbooks with photographs issued by Bank / Post Office 5.PAN Card 6.Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR 7.MGNREGA Job Card 8.Health insurance Smart card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour 9.Pension document with photograph 10.Officials identity cards issued by MP / MLAs / MLCs Issues on Electors Identity In addition to EPIC electors can also be identified with some other documents like Photo Voter Slip issued by ECI and other ten types of alternative documents as specified in order of ECI a copy of which is given in your material bag.

In this election Indelible Ink will have to be applied on voters finger with a small Brush as supplied with Ink Vial from top of the nail to the bottom of the 1 st joint of left fore finger. The Ballot Papers will have pictures of candidates along with other details like Name & Symbol. NOTA will have also a symbol printed against it. In the Marked copy after identification the 1 st Polling officer will invariably underline the entry related to the elector and if the elector is female then a Tick Mark also to be put on the Sl No of that elector i.e. at the left-hand corner of the Box. Micro-Observer should have a separate sitting arrangement along with the Polling party. Other Important Issues

Visit sheets of Sector Officers and movement sheets of polling agents will have to be maintained. None is allowed to peep inside the voting compartment during poll. Polling agents should remain seated at their respective seats and must not move around the polling station. At any given moment there should not be more than one polling agent of a particular candidate. There will not be any replacement of polling agent by his reliving agents within two hours before the end of Poll (Para of RO Handbook, Page: 193) Other Important Issues

Special arrangements for specially abled (PH) electors Normally while entering the Polling Station separate queues are maintained for Male and Female electors and they are allowed to enter the polling station alternately. However aged, infirm and sick person are given priority. This time however this facility of entering on priority basis is to be provided to the physically handicapped / specially abled electors also.

Who can enter the Polling Station Candidates/Election Agents/Polling Agents: But Candidates & Election Agents cannot sit or stay inside a particular polling station for longer duration. Public servants on duty Observers appointed by ECI. Micro-Observers / Videographers / Photographers / Staff for Web casting A child in arms accompanying an elector. A person accompanying a blind and infirm elector Media persons duly authorized by commission and issued with proper identity card by ECI/CEO/DEO. But none is allowed to peep inside the voting compartment during the poll.

After Poll At the end of poll, please prepare 17C duly filled-up and signed by you and polling agents as available in sufficient number i.e. one sealed, one un-sealed, a copy for Sector Officer and copies for polling agents and at least two extra copies which may be retained by the presiding officer himself. Prepare also at two copies of PS-05 one of which has to be submitted to the Sector Officer and another at the Receiving Center (RC) in un-sealed manner along with copies of other reports/accounts.

All the polling personnel are covered under scheme for reimbursement on sickness and injury while on election duty and they will include in addition to the polling personnel the private civilian persons like drivers/ cleaners / helpers / messengers / menials / videographers / cameraman etc hired for deployment of election duty. The period for consideration is the actual period of deployment of election work as and when he/she leaves his/her residence / office to report for any election related duty and until he/she reaches back his/her residence / office after performance of his/her election related duty including training. Reimbursement on sickness and injury while on Election Duty

Colour Coding During DC / RC arrangement, Colour Coding will be done i.e. each Assembly Pandals, Bag for carrying Polling Materials will have a distinct Colour to make it easy to recognize. Bus Sticker for Polling Personnel will also have the same Colour and distinct Shape like Tringle, Circle etc. e.g Chakdah (A.C.) 92-Kalyani (SC) (A.C.)

Scale of payment of Presiding & Polling Officers Presiding officer: Rs. 1550/- if attended two trainings. Polling officer: Rs. 1150/- if attended two trainings. Presiding Officer VVPAT: Rs. 1900/- as attended three trainings Polling officer VVPAT: Rs. 1400/- as attended three trainings Presiding Officer (Reserve): Rs. 700/- Polling Officer (Reserve): Rs. 500/- Presiding Officer (Reserve VVPAT): Rs. 1050/- Polling Officer (Reserve VVPAT): Rs. 750/- These allowances will be transferred to the accounts of Polling Officers through wire transfer. In addition, Presiding Officer will receive Rs. 300/- as contingency for polling party, Rs. 100/- for rental of alternative lighting like Hurricane etc in case of emergency and Rs. 50/- for his/her cell phone change on P-1 day at DC in cash – Totaling Rs. 450/- per Polling Party. Additional payment in cash will be made to the reserved polling officers if they are deployed or not released on P-1 day. Mode of Payment

All the Training Materials are available at For downloading. Thank you…