Gurdaspur yet to get due for best poll practices

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, February 12

Despite the fact that Gurdaspur performed the best among all 22 districts of the state in the 2019 parliamentary polls, neither the Election Commission of India (ECI) nor the office of the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) is keen to give the district its due in the form of an appreciation letter or an award, leaving officials fuming at the turn of events.

On October 2 last year, the CEO had asked all districts to provide it with statistics pertaining to the polls so it could decide the one on which it would confer upon the ‘Best Electoral Practices Award-2019’.

The data provided to the CEO by Gurdaspur officials proved that the district topped all four parameters needed to get the honour.

The elections were supervised by Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Vipul Ujwal, who has since been transferred, and Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Additional District Election Officer Tejinder Pal Singh Sandhu.

Interestingly, on January 25, Punjab CEO Dr S Karuna Raju was conferred upon with the ‘Best CEO for Accessible Elections’ by President Ram Nath Kovind for making elaborate arrangements particularly in respect of facilitating voting for persons with disabilities (PwD). However, officials who made it possible at the ground level have been left in the lurch.