Report all chartered flights arriving at airport to election officials, AAI told

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 22

The District Election Office has asked the officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI) to report all chartered flights and helicopters landing at Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport during the election period to carry out a search of the aircraft and its passengers.

Move to stop entry of cash to lure voters

In a meeting with the AAI officials here on Wednesday, District Election Officer Ghanshyam Thori said the administration should be intimated about the chartered flights in advance. He said it would enable them to carry out a search of the aircraft, passengers, their bags and baggage. It will prevent the entry of large amounts of cash and other material into the district to lure the voters. He also instructed that a record of all chartered flights arriving at the airport be maintained

In a meeting with the AAI officials here on Wednesday, District Election Officer Ghanshyam Thori said the administration should be intimated about the chartered flights in advance. He said it would enable them to carry out a search of the aircraft, passengers, their bags and baggage. It will prevent the entry of large amounts of cash and other material into the district to lure the voters. He also instructed that a record of all chartered flights arriving at the airport be maintained.

The District Election Officer also appealed to the contesting candidates to make sure to inform the District Election Office about leaders or star campaigners coming to campaign in their favour so that the teams monitoring election expenses could know about their movement in advance.

The District Election Office has issued a list of about 12 identity proofs that could be utilised to ascertain the identity of the person if they do not possess an election card. Any one of these documents can be carried by the voters to the polling station as his identity proof. Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Ghanshyam Thori informed that the voter slips issued for convenience cannot be presented as an identity card for voting.

He said that according to the instructions of the Election Commission of India, those voters who are not able to present the election photo identity card during the voting can present 12 other documents as their proof of identity. He said according to the Election Commission, the voters who do not have election photo identification cards could use Aadhaar card, NREGA job card, passbook with photo issued by banks and post offices, health smart card issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour, driving licence, PAN card, NPR (National Population Register) issued under the RGI (Registrar General of India) smart card, Indian passport, pension document with photo, service identity card issued by Central, state government, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) or public limited companies to their employees. The voters who have been issued Unique Disability Identity (UDID) by the Social Justice and Empowerment Authority of the Central Government can also cast their votes by showing these.

Giving details, the District Election Officer said 7742 men, 5843 women are PWD (disabled voters) and 14,663 voters who are above 85 years of age in nine assembly segments forming the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.

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