All preparations in place for Jind assembly by-poll in Haryana on Monday

The district administration has put in place a foolproof preparation along with elaborate security arrangements to ensure that the voting for Jind assembly by-poll goes on smoothly and peacefully on Monday.

A total of 21 candidates are in the fray. Prominent among them are Congress' Randeep Singh Surjewala, BJP's Krishan Midha, Indian National Lok Dal's (INLD) Umed Singh Redhu, and Jannayak Janata Party's (JJP) Digvijay Singh.

As many as 1, 71,113 people, including nearly 80,000 women, are eligible to vote. At least 158 polling stations have been set up, of which 67 are located in rural areas. The by-poll was necessitated following the death of Hari Chand Midha, an INLD MLA, on August 26.

The counting of votes is scheduled for January 31.

Jind Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ashwin Shanvi on Sunday gave necessary guidelines to the police personnel deployed on the booth level duty related to election and security arrangements.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pushpa Khatri said the police force in a large number has been deputed for the peaceful conduct of Jind bye-elections. "3,000 police personnel and 500 Home Guard jawans, one CRPF company and one RAF will be deployed," she said.

"Additional police forces have been deployed at sensitivities and highly sensitive booths. There are 51 places where police check posts have been ensured for through checking for any intoxicants, liquor, and weapons," said Khatri.

"In the Jind city and village, the police have been conducting flag march for the last three days to keep vigil on anti-social elements. The district police are on high alert for the bye-elections in Jind," he said.

The District Electoral Officer (DEO) Amit Khatri said that those voters who do not have a voter identity card, such voters can cast vote by showing any other 12 prescribed identity cards bearing a photograph of the person.

Khatri said that the Election Commission of India has approved of 12 other identity cards for those voters who do not have a voter ID card so that every voter can cast his or her vote through any of these identity cards.

These 12 identity cards are driving license, MNREGA card, passport, service identity card, passport, bank passbook issued by the post office, smart card, health insurance smart card, pension-related papers, photo voter Sleep, and Aadhar card.