Assembly polls in Pondy TN will be held simultaneously CEC

Puducherry Feb 12 (PTI): Chief Election Commissioner
Sunil Arora said here on Friday the Assembly polls due in the
next few months would be held simultaneously in Puducherry
and Tamil Nadu.
He was addressing reporters here before ending his two-
day visit, along with a team from the Election Commission, to
the Union Territory to review its poll
preparedness.
Asked about voting rights of members nominated to the
Territorial Assembly, he said the Supreme Court had in 2018
ordered such members had voting rights.
He read out the provisions for nomination of members in
the Union Territory Act and from the extracts of the apex
court judgement on voting rights for nominated
legislators.
Arora said he and his team have had discussions with the
officials of various departments such as the enforcement
departments and state-level bankers committee, among others.
"It was a fruitful meeting," he said.
The Chief Election Commissioner further said the
commission would ensure free, fair, inducement-free and
COVID-19-safe elections.
He said there would be zero tolerance to misuse of money
power and illegal distribution of freebies and other
inducements to voters.
He said the number of polling booths would be increased
from 952 to 1,564 in the Union Territory.
The election official said it was also insisted at the
meeting that no polling station should be above theground-
level as the aged and physically challenged voters should
face no difficulty.
He released a booklet on SVEEP (systematic voters education
and electoral participation) and also flagged off a vehicle
to highlight the chief features of SVEEP. PTI COR
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)