KOCHI: After the month-long intense campaigning by various political parties in Ernakulam, it is now up to the electorate to decide on their choice of candidates. On Monday, most of the candidates were on a silent campaign, concentrating more on squad work and door-to-door campaign as a last-minute effort to ensure maximum support. In the district, a total of 26,49,340 voters in 14 assembly constituencies will march to the booths on Tuesday. The district has 93,359 new voters this year. As per the Election Commission’s order, the voters should carry a valid ID proof with them.
The voter’s slip issued by various political parties will not be considered as a valid document. The passbooks issued by cooperative banks will also not be considered as a valid ID proof, an officer concerned said. Considering the Covid-19 situation, the total number of polling stations in the district has been increased to 3,899. In the 2016 assembly polls, there were only 2,252 booths. This year, as per the Covid-19 precautionary protocol, only 1,000 people will be allowed to cast votes in a booth. Hence, 1,647 auxiliary booths have been added this year. The district administration has completed all necessary procedures to ensure a smooth and hassle-free polling in Ernakulam, said District Collector S Suhas. The collector also visited some of the polling booths and inspected the arrangements. He also had his dinner with the polling officers at the Ramanthuruthu booth.
The mock poll before the actual voting procedure will begin at 5.30am. The presiding officers will conduct the mock poll in the presence of polling agents of candidates. All buttons on the voting machines will be inspected including that for NOTA. After recording 50 votes, the votes recorded in the machine will be cross-checked with the VVPAT slips to ensure the accuracy of the machine.
Later, the entire votes recorded during the mock drill will be erased and the machines will be sealed before beginning the actual polling at 7am. The poll hours have been extended till 7pm with the last one hour being reserved for Covid-19 patients and those in quarantine. The Election Control Room will start functioning at the district administration headquarters at Kakkanad from 5am on Tuesday.
The control room will coordinate the functioning of sectoral officers, addressing the complaints and grievances and monitor the webcasting facilities in booths. Nearly 77 screens have been set up in the control room to monitor the proceedings. Under Kochi City IG and City Police Commissioner, 12 DySPs, 35 circle inspectors, 200 sub inspectors, 1,500 policemen and 800 special police officers will be deployed for security arrangements. Besides, three companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) will also be deployed at various places.
27 SENSITIVE BOOTHS IN DIST
Kochi: The Election Commission has identified 27 sensitive polling booths across 13 assembly constituencies in the district. More police and paramilitary force personnel will be deployed in these
booths. Apart from this, there will be micro-observers in these booths. Webcasting facilities will also set up to ensure fair polling. The district has a total of 3,899 polling booths and of those, 1,849 have webcasting facilities. As many as 14 polling booths are women-friendly booths.