election campaigning for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections ended on Sunday. It is noteworthy that as per the directions of the Election Commission (EC), campaigning of candidates comes to a halt 48 hours before the election and once it comes into effect, the outsiders who settle in the constituency for campaigning for candidates, leave the region.

 

Along with this, Section 144 has also been enforced in the radius of 200 metres of the polling booths in the State as per the directions of Collector and District Election Officer Kaushlendra Vikram Singh and citizens will be prohibited in group of five or more around 200 metres of the booths. “There is a provision to stop election campaigning in Parliamentary constituencies 48 hours before the scheduled end of voting. After the deadline for campaigning ends, persons from outside the area, who are not voters in that Lok Sabha Parliamentary Constituency, have to leave that constituency. For this, an intensive monitoring campaign is conducted,” informed State Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan.

 

Though, campaigning will be prohibited in this period, citizens will be able to complain about violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), if such instances are observed by people through C Vigil app. Significantly, in the third phase, voters of the State will exercise their franchise in nine Parliamentary constituencies including Bhopal, Vidisha, Guna, Morena, Bhind (SC), Sagar, Rajgarh, Betul (SC) and Gwalior. Voting for the third phase will commence from 7 am till 6 pm. The Commission has taken various steps to encourage voters and increasing the turnout. Some of these initiatives prominently include ‘Kaun Banega Voter number 1’ quiz and ‘Chale booth ki ore’ campaign.