General Elections: Panjab Voter Statistics, 5 SSPs Transferred & 10% Polling Stations Declared Critical

In the upcoming Indian General elections, Panjab goes to polls on 1 Jun. Panjab has 21.2M eligible voters, including 5,195 centenarian voters and 0.49M first-time voters in the 18-19 age-group. In the last five years since the 2019 parliamentary elections, there has been an increase of 94,891 (first-time) voters. In 2019, 4,654 voters were of 100 years and above. This time, 85-years plus voters, including centenarians, have seen an increase from 175K in 2019 to 190K. The final electoral rolls have been published based on the data till 1 Mar; the Election Commission of India (ECI) will continue to update the rolls until 10 days before the last day of filing nominations on 14 May. On 21 Mar, the ECI ordered the transfer of Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) of five districts in Panjab. Bathinda SSP Harmanbir Singh Gill is the brother of INC MP from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat, Jasbir Singh Gill (Dimpa). SSPs from Fazilka, Jalandhar (Rural), Pathankot, and Malerkotla were also changed owing to their kinship with elected representatives. The ECI has decided 2,416 polling stations, at least 10% of the total 24,433 polling stations in Panjab, are critical and would warrant extra security measures. It is not clear why these polling stations have been declared critical. Panjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said the objective of Is Vaar 70 Paar (Over 70% voter turnout). Sibin informed that the election commission has removed 24,433 wall writings, 15,653 posters, 7,511 banners, and 23,916 defacements of property in the state since the imposition of the model code of conduct.