Full bench of Election Commission in Chandigarh to take stock of preparations for Punjab polls

The full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) arrived here on Wednesday on a two-day visit to take stock of the preparations for the Punjab assembly polls.

On the first day of the visit, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey held separate meetings with political representatives and officials of police and paramilitary forces, according to an official statement.

Deputy Election Commissioners Chandra Bhushan Kumar, Nitesh Vyas and T Sreekanth and Director General Sheyphali B Sharan were part of the visiting team.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Karuna Raju received them at the airport here.

The ECI team held separate meetings with representatives of national and state-level recognised political parties. Representatives from the All India Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Nationalist Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal met the poll panel.

The commission heard their concerns and assured them that issues raised by them would be deliberated upon and examined.

Later, the commission held a meeting with the Punjab CEO, state police nodal officer and central armed police forces (CAPF) to review the preparations for the assembly elections that are due early next year.

The commission also held meetings with representatives of various enforcement agencies to know about security arrangements to ensure smooth conduct of elections.

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