Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], May 2 : The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed 15 expenditure observers for various Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab.
The expenditure observers are entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the expenditure incurred by candidates and political parties during the campaign period, ensuring compliance with election expenditure regulations, said an official statement from the Information and Public Relations Department, Punjab, on Thursday.
Disclosing the details of the appointed Expenditure Observers, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Punjab, Sibin C, said that the appointed observers are distinguished Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers who bring a wealth of experience and expertise to their roles. He informed that Harshad S Vengurlekar has been appointed for Gurdaspur, Bare Ganesh Sudhakar for Amritsar, Anurag Tripathi for Khadoor Sahib, Madhav Deshmukh for Jalandhar (SC), and Pawan Kumar Khetan for Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha Constituency.
Similarly, Shilpi Sinha has been appointed for Anandpur Sahib, Pankaj Kumar and Chetan D Kalamkar for Ludhiana, and Akhilesh Kumar Yadava and Nandini R Nair for Bathinda Constituency. Additionally, Anand Kumar for Fatehgarh Sahib, Manish Kumar for Faridkot, Nagendra Yadav for Ferozepur, Amit Sanjay Gaurav for Sangrur and Meetu Agarwal for Patiala, have been appointed as the Expenditure Observers.
CEO Sibin C stated that each appointed observer will play a crucial role in ensuring the fairness and transparency of the electoral process in their respective constituencies, the statement added.
In Punjab, voting for its 13 seats will take place in a single phase, with the seventh and final phase on June 1 seeing voting in Gurudaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, and Patiala constituencies.
This year, the Lok Sabha polls began on April 19 for 102 seats spread across 21 states. Following this, Phase 2 was held on April 26 and the third Phase will be held on May 7, involving 94 seats across 12 states.
Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha polls is slated to be held on May 13, involving 96 seats and Phase 5 is scheduled to be held on May 20 for 49 seats, while Phase 6 is set for May 25 covering 7 states on 57 seats.