Lok Sabha elections 2024: The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday. Amid tons of details in his speech, one reporter caught an interesting detail. The CEC announced the elections on 544 seats, while Lok Sabha has only 543 seats. CEC Rajiv Kumar congratulated the reporter for his eye for detail and then explained the reason for the anomaly.
While answering the question, Rajiv Kumar said that there is no election for the extra seat, but the voting will be conducted twice in the Outer Manipur constituency due to the prevailing situation in the northeastern state.
“The Commission has reviewed the ground situation of Manipur and has noted that a large number of electors registered in different constituencies of Manipur were displaced from their native places during recent conflicts. They are now residing in Relief Camps in various districts of Manipur. The Commission, after due consultation with various stakeholders, has decided that special polling stations shall be set up at/near the camps where such electors, who opt for such facility, will be able to register their votes in EVMs," Election Commission said in a press statement.
"In this regard, a detailed scheme for internally displaced persons of Manipur to vote in relief camps has been issued by the Commission on 29th February 2024," the statement added.
CEC Rajiv Kumar assured the voters that they will work hard to prevent the spread of misinformation and a tight vigil will be kept on social media platforms. He assured immediate action in case of violation of any laws or rules.
“All the election management-related news on all the major national and regional news channels during elections would be monitored vigorously. If any untoward incident or violation of any law/rule is noticed, action will be taken immediately. Reports of monitoring would also be forwarded to the CEOs. Office of the CEO will ascertain the status of each and every item and file ATR/Status Report," the Election Commission said.