No smoking at polling stations in TS: EC

Hyderabad: Ahead of State Assembly elections, the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana has declared all polling stations as no-smoking zones.

The Election Commission issued orders to all the district collectors, district electoral officers and returning officers to ensure that ‘No Smoking’ stickers are put up inside and outside the polling booths for making them tobacco-free zones.

Section (4) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco



Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce Production, Supply and Distribution) Act COTPA 2003 prohibits smoking in all public places. A ‘Public Place’ is defined as any place to which the public has access whether as of right or not and includes all places visited by general public.

Boards containing the warning ‘No Smoking Area- Smoking Here is an Offence’ have to be displayed prominently at the entrance of public places.