Karnataka - Mysore

All arrangements in place

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

All set: Officials checking electronic voting machines before despatching them to polling booths in Mysore on Friday.

MYSORE: Arrangements are in place to help more than 20.54 lakh voters in Mysore district to exercise their franchise on Saturday.

There are 123 candidates in the fray from the 11 Assembly constituencies in the district. Voters will decide the political future of bigwigs such as the former Union Minister V. Srinivas Prasad and the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in what is expected to be a closely fought battle of the ballot.

There are 2,140 polling booths in the 11 constituencies of which 1,345 booths have been categorised as sensitive and 364 as hypersensitive booths. In all, 10,189 government officials have been drafted for election-related duties. The officials have taken their positions at their respective polling booths which were allotted through randomisation to maintain secrecy till the last moment in a bid to minimise the chances of foul play.

As many as 2,140 electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used and there are 331 reserve EVMs for emergency. For the first time, every polling booth will have a micro-observer.

Security has been tightened in the district with 20 companies of Central forces of which 10 companies, including three companies of the Border Security Force, two companies of the Central Reserve Police Force and five companies of the Central Industrial Security Force, will be deployed in Mysore city.

Voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Election Commission has issued directives to ensure peaceful polling.

Registered voters who do not have the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) will be allowed to exercise their franchise provided they carry any one of the 21 documents as announced earlier. This includes passport, PAN card, identity card issued by public sector and listed companies, ration card with photographs, driving licence, property documents with photographs, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes certificate with photograph issued by competent authorities before March 31, 2008, freedom fighter identity card and pension documents.

Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer P. Manivannan said the entire family would be permitted to vote if any one member of the family had a valid document, provided they came together to exercise their franchise.

Meanwhile, regulations are in place to ensure that no booth shall be set up within a distance of 200 meters from the polling stations and such booths shall be used only for issuing unofficial identity slips to the voters. Candidates have been issued directives pertaining to the use of vehicles on the polling day. A candidate will be entitled for one vehicle for his own use, one for his election agent and one vehicle for the use of his party workers. If the candidate is not present in the constituency, no other person will be allotted the vehicle for their use. Meanwhile, nearly 30 fake electronic voting machines have been seized by the police. Mr. Manivannan said the authorities would ascertain if these were machines meant for demonstration. If not, the issue would be viewed seriously and action initiated against the guilty, he said.

Mysore Staff Correspondent writes:

Mandya district administration has made all arrangements to ensure free and fair polling in the seven Assembly constituencies on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Prasad told The Hindu that 7,400 officials had been deployed for 1,493 polling booths in the constituencies of Mandya, K.R. Pet, Maddur, Srirangapatna, Nagamangala, Malavalli and Melkote. Each polling booth will have a presiding officer and three polling officers.

He said that 7,000 police personnel, including 2,300 Central paramilitary forces, had been deployed in the constituencies to ensure peaceful polling. Of 1,493 polling booths, 270 have been identified as hypersensitive and 800 as sensitive booths. Central forces will be deployed in the hypersensitive booths and the State police personnel will be deployed in the sensitive booths. Also, 450 micro-observers would be deputed in sensitive booths, he said. A mobile squad of the Central paramilitary force would cover five to six sensitive booths, he said.

He said that 1,717 electronic voting machines will be used in the district.

Chamarajanagar Correspondent writes:

The Election Commission authorities have made all arrangements to ensure peaceful, free and fair polling on Saturday in Chamarajanagar district.

Nearly 140 cases have been booked under the Excise Act against those storing and transporting liquor illegally. Liquor worth Rs. 13.5 lakh had been seized and several illicit liquor production units destroyed so far. As many as 13 cases have been booked for violation of the model code of conduct. The police have arrested seven persons on the charge of committing cognisable offence. As many as 2,100 police personnel have been deployed in the four Assembly constituencies.

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