Two Transgenders, 93 Women Among 1,304 Candidates In Fray For Assembly Polls

Among 1,304 candidates in fray for the Punjab elections for 117 Assembly constituencies scheduled to be held on February 20, two are transgenders and 93 are women, while the rest are men.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju said that among all the candidates, nine candidates are 25-years-old and six of them are above 80-years-old out of which a 94-year-old candidate contesting from constituency number 83 Lambi in Sri Muktsar Sahib is the oldest one.

He further said that there are 21499804 registered voters in the state, out of which 11298081 are men, 10200996 are women, 727 third gender, 158341 PWD voters, 109624 service voters, 1608 NRI voters and 509205 voters are above the age of 80.

There are 24740 polling stations in 14684 locations, out of which 2013 polling stations in 1051 locations are identified as critical, Raju said, adding that all polling booths will be covered under webcasting on polling day.

The chief electoral officer also informed that a minimum half-section of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and remaining force from Punjab Police will be deployed at critical polling locations as per norms prescribed by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Raju also informed that to ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections 972 flying squad teams (FSTs), 857 static surveillance teams (SSTs), 479 video surveillance teams (VSTs), 159 video viewing team (VVTs) and 119 accounting teams have been deployed across the state who are working round the clock.

Meanwhile, the voting would be held on February 20 from 8am to 6pm and counting would be on March 10.