Amid much brouhaha over the Munugode by-elections, the state election commission has concluded all the poll preparations on Monday and drawn the lines for the polling scheduled to be held on Thursday. Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj, while talking to media persons here on Monday said, “For a total number of 2,41,855 voters, a total 298 polling stations have been established where polling will take place from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm on 3 November.
Out of a total number of 2,41,855 electors, he said, the number of male voters are 1,20,128 while the other 1,21,720 are female voters who will cast their votes on November 3. Apart from this, there are only 10 overseas voters and 50 service voters as per record. Also, preparations have been made for webcasting on all the 298 polling stations.”
“Mock polling will be done one hour ahead of the formal beginning of the polling process to check smooth functionality of the voting machines. All the candidates have been told to deploy their polling agents at their designated polling booths by 6.00 am sharp,” The CEO explained.
Apart from the required number of 1192 polling personnel on the day, he said, an additional 300 personnel have been kept as reserved staff to address any sort of emergency situation. Every polling booth will have four polling personnel that include one presiding officer and three officers. Besides, a number of 199 micro observers were also deployed on all the 199 locations after providing them appropriate training. In addition to this, booth level officials are also arranged for verifications.
Explaining about the arrangements made at the polling booths, he said, wheelchairs and other facilities have been provided at all the polling stations for senior citizens and disabled persons. The polling staff along with polling material will reach the polling stations on 2 November.
The official also informed that a bulletin will be released regarding the polling percentage with a gap of every two hours. All the voters presented in the premises of their respective polling stations will be allowed to franchise their votes by 6.00 pm.
