Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 18:
With the election to the office of the President of India slated for tomorrow, the candidates being the UPA nominee Pratibha Patil and NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the State Chief Electoral Officer has today issued a notification informing that the Assembly Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Assembly have been appointed as the Assistant Returning Officers.
Gautam Chatterjee, Chief Vigilance Officer, Damodar Valley Corporation, Ltd Kolkata has been appointed by the EC as the Observer for Manipur and he arrived at Imphal today.
Media persons may enter the premises of the polling station building on the basis of the letter of authority issued by the ECI, but no photography or videography will be allowed inside the polling station.
No cell phones, cordless phones, wireless sets etc will be allowed inside the polling station.
The official representative/polling agent of Pratibha Patil will be Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Th Debendra, while it is still not clear who will be the polling agent for Bhairon Singh Shekawat.
Meanwhile security around the Assembly complex has been beefed up for tomorrow's election.
The election to be held at the Committee room of the Assembly will start from 10 am and will go on till 5 pm.
Unlike the general elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies EVMs will not be used tomorrow and ballot boxes will instead be utilised.
Tick marks or signatures will not be allowed on the ballot papers and instead the voters, that is the MLAs and MPs, should use the figure 1 along side the candidate of their choice indicating their preference.
After the voting, the ballot boxes will be sealed by the observer and polling agents and kept at the strong room of the Assembly under strict surveillance by security personnel.
The ballot boxes will then be taken to Delhi on July 20 by the Assembly Secretary, who is also the Assistant Returning Officer.
To discuss the presidential election tomorrow a meeting of the SPF legislators was held today with the Chief Minister in the chair.
The MPP had earlier made it clear that they would not support the candidacy of UPA nominee, Pratibha Patil.
Some independents, including many from the hill districts are likely to vote for Patil.