42/2024-2025
18th April, 2024 : The preparation for filling up of 1-Mizoram (ST) Parliamentary Constituency, General Election to the Lok Sabha, 2024 which is to be held on 19th April 2024 has reached its final stage. Out of the 1276 Polling stations, there are 168 P-2 Polling Stations (Polling Stations that are in far flung or remote areas) and those polling parties assigned to these Polling Stations left for their duty yesterday. The polling parties of P-1 Polling Station, which are 1108 in number, will leave today for their duty. 5071 Polling officials have been assigned for duty on the day of the election.
As per the latest Electoral roll, there are 8,56,364 voters out of which 4,14,805 are male voters and 4,41,559 are female voters. There are 4,963 Service voters ( male - 4872, female - 91), 4741 voters aged 85 and above (male - 2167, female - 2574), 3396 PwD voters ( male - 1876, female - 1521), and 36,370 young voters between the ages of 18-19 ( male - 18,659, female - 17,711).
Out of the 1276 Polling Stations, there are 751 Rural Polling Stations and 525 Urban Polling Stations. On average, there are 671 voters per Polling station. The Polling Booths in 765 Polling Stations will be monitored through webcasting.
There are 14 Vulnerable Polling Stations (Kolasib District - 7, Aizawl District - 3, Champhai District - 4), 5 Critical Polling Stations ( all from Saitual District), 11 Polling Stations accessible only on foot (Mamit District - 6, Lunglei District - 4, Lawngtlai District - 1) and 15 Polling Stations that are only accessible through waterways (Lunglei District - 13, Mamit District - 2).
There are 25 Model Polling Stations in Mizoram, 4 Auxilliary Polling Stations in Lunglei District, 136 All Women Managed Polling Stations (Pink Polling Station), 7 All Youth Managed Polling Stations and 1 PwD Managed Polling Station. To ensure that voters are able to cast their votes peacefully and without any difficulties, efforts will be undertaken using Assured Minimum Facility (AMF).
In the upcoming election, Aizawl district has the highest number of voters at 2,88,304 (Male- 1,34,838 and Female- 1,53,466) whereas Hnahthial district has the lowest number of voters at 16,223 voters. (Male - 8008 and Female- 8215) The polling station with the highest number of voters is in Zemabawk- VIII (Aizawl District) and that with the lowest number is in Thehlep (Lunglei District).
As of now, there is no shortage of personnel and EVM/VVPAT. In addition to EVM, VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Trail) will be used in 1276 Polling Stations. The latest M3 Model developed by ECIL consisting of 1994 Ballot Units, 1958 Control Units and 2088 VVPATs will be used in the upcoming election.
Strong rooms have been designated and prepared in every district for the storage of EVMs after the conduct of elections. There are 40 Strong rooms, one for each Assembly Constituency. Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Mizoram State Armed Police personnel will be deployed to safeguard the Strong rooms and buildings day and night till Counting day.
For the maintenance of law and order, 3553 State Police personnel as well as Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) Company have been deployed. There will be 83 Flying Squad Teams (FST) and 81 Static Surveillance Teams (SST). There are 52 Check Posts (Nakas) out of which 12 are located at the Inter-State Boundary and the rest are located in different parts of the State. Since MCC came into force, drugs and alcohol worth Rs.47,984,035 have been seized till April 15, 2024. 8 guns, ammo, 110 Gelatin bombs and 110 Detonator bombs have also been seized. 5 CAPF companies (all CRPF) will be utilized for Strong Room Guarding/Counting Centers and they will remain deployed in the state till completion of the counting process. The remaining 7 companies (CRPF - 2, BSF - 2, ITBP - 3) will leave Mizoram after poll day to fbe deployed in other States.
In the General Election to Lok Sabha 2024, there are 6 contesting candidates -1 each from BJP, INC, MNF, ZPM and MPC political parties and 1 independent candidate. Among them, there is one woman candidate who belongs to MPC party. Election Commission of India has appointed 1 General Observer, 1 Police Observer and 2 Expenditure Observers.
For voters above the age of 85 and PwD voters, Home voting was carried out in Mizoram between 5th April to 15th April, 2024 where mobile polling teams travel to their homes to enable them to cast their votes. There were a total of 1792 and 317 85+ years and PwD voters respectively.
On 19th April, 2024 voter turnout will be reported every 2 hours through Pollstar app. In case there are some difficulties, information will be communicated through MPRO, where they will be on duty in every district Control Room along with Pollstar Nodal Officers and other officials.
Responsibilities and duties which are to be taken care of on poll day have been assigned in the CEO Office along with their phone number as mentioned below :
State Control Room : 0389-2954202/8787622508
Communication Control Room : 9612317499
Media Monitoring Control Room : 0389-2954392/8731806897
Webcasting Control Room : 9612153577
EVM Control Room : 9436383058
Call centre has been established in every district where complaints or any queries regarding election can be made on Mizoram Election Helpline Toll Free no. 18003351950. Officials have been assigned to be on duty 24/7. Khawzawl and Saitual districts are given separate numbers as there is no BSNL service in these two districts.
Khawzawl District Phone number- 6909245177
Saitual District Phone number- 8731817838
Votes will be counted on 4th June, 2024 and election result will be announced on the same day. Counting Centres/Halls have been prepared as per the ECI instructions. There are 13 Counting Centres with a total of 40 Counting Halls in the State. There are 3 counting centre in Aizawl district and one each in other districts of the state.
State Level MCMC has met 4 times where BJP,INC, ZPM and MNF parties, requests for Pre-certification of political advertisements for Print Media and Electronic Media have been considered, 4 political advertisents have been approved and pre-certified by the Committee so far. District Level MCMC has been set up in every district to pre-certify all the political advertisements.
Polling will start at 7:00 AM and conclude at 5:00 PM on 19th of April (Friday). The government has declared poll day i.e., 19th April, 2024 as a “Public Holiday” as well as “Paid Holiday” for non-government employees. “Dry Day” has been declared hence selling, distribution and consumption of alcohol are strictly prohibited. As per the Representation of People Act,1951 all campaign related or election related activity is prohibited for 48 hours. (from 17th April, 2024 5:00 PM till 19th April, 2024 at 5:00 PM when poll concludes). As it is the Silence Period or pre-election silence, we please request everyone to cooperate in this matter.
The Election department invites everyone to participate in an inclusive, peaceful, free and fair election and set an example for the rest of India in this field. In order for our voter turnout to exceed the previous election, we urge every voter to cast their votes. As a citizen of India, it is our duty to cast our valuable votes therefore, we request every eligible voter to take the responsibility of fulling their duty in this election.
