New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday announced by-elections to three assembly constituencies in Odisha, Kerala, and Uttarakhand will be held on May 31, and counting on June 3.
The three Assembly constituencies are Brajrajnagar in Odisha, Thrikkakara in Kerala, and Champawat in Uttarakhand.
The Model Code of Conduct shall come into immediate effect in the districts which the whole or any part of the Assembly constituencies going for bye election fall, it said.
According to the EC notification, the date of issue of gazette notification will be May 4, the last date of nomination will be May 11, date of scrutiny of nominations will be done on May 12, last date of the withdrawal of candidature will be May 16 while the date of withdrawing the candidature for Brajrajnagar and Champawat will be May 17 because of May 16 being a public holiday (Buddh Purnima).
The poll process in all three constituencies will be completed before June 5, it said.
The ECI said that the published electoral roll for these bye polls with effect from January 1, 2022 will be used and the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and VVPATs will be used in all polling stations and the district administrations have been provided with EVMS VVPAT machine.
The Commission also said that Election Photo-Identity Card (EPIC) shall be the main document of identification of a voter. However, the Aadhaar card, MNREGA job card, passbook with photograph issued by the bank or post office, Health Insurance Smart Cards issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour, driving license, PAN card, and other identity documents issued by the government may be used for identification purposes.
All election related activities will be strictly complied as per the Covid-19 guidelines issued by competent authorities. Social distancing and use of mask, sanitisers, thermal scanning, face shield, hand gloves, as per Covid-19 protocol, have to be complied with.
