Date:10/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/10/stories/2006091002190300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Salem

Officials' cooperation sought for conduct of local body polls

Staff Reporter

District administration told to identify sensitive polling booths

PREPARATORY WORKS: An official conducting training programme for election officers in Salem on Saturday. - Photo: P. Goutham

SALEM: Thangaswamy, Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, has appealed to the officials to extend full cooperation for the smooth conduct of the local body elections.

Participating at a training programme for the election officials organised at the Hanging Garden here on Saturday, he said all necessary steps should be taken to prevent bogus voting in the local body elections.

Extra caution

Explaining the various poll duties, he said officials should take extra caution while transporting polling materials to the booths. The district administration should identify the sensitive polling booths and provide additional security to such booths.

Ballot papers

The printing of ballot papers should be carried out carefully and there should not be any mistakes in the ballot papers. A woman official should be present in every polling station. More training programmes for poll officials would be conducted, he said.

He also reviewed the progress of the preparatory works for the coming local body elections. Later, he interacted with the participants and answered their queries.

More than 500 returning officers and assistant returning officers from Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts participated in the training programme. District Revenue Officer M. Rajarathinam and Project Officer of District Rural Development Agency Jeggananthan were present.