CHENNAI: There are a total of 6.23 crore voters, including 10.90 lakh first-time voters, in the state, in the final electoral roll updated till March 26. As is usually the case, women voters outnumbered men (3.17 crore women and 3.06 crore men). There are also 8,465 transgender voters in the rolls.
The total number of voters was at 6.18 crore on January 22 after the summary revision and it increased slightly after the latest additions and deletions as of March 27. Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said 6.13 lakh voters are above 85 years and there are 4.61 lakh voters with disabilities.
The election commission has received 1,749 nomination papers from 1,403 candidates. The number of candidates may go down after the scrutiny and withdrawal of candidatures is over on March 30. Meanwhile, the CEO said 22 nomination papers from 18 candidates have been received for the by-election to the Vilavancode Assembly constituency.
The number of polling booths will also go up from 68,144 to 68,321 and 3.32 lakh polling personnel will be on duty on the polling day. Already, 39 general observers and 20 police observers have been appointed. As of Wednesday, 58 expenditure observers have been appointed. This apart, 7,851 micro observers (central government staff, bank employees etc) will be deputed to critical and vulnerable polling stations, the CEO said.
As many as 45,000 web-streaming cameras will be installed in polling booths.
Sahoo added a total of 190 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) will be deployed for security purposes in the state. Of this, 25 companies have already been deployed and 165 companies will be deployed from April 1.
Regarding the seizures by the election squads, he said so far including cash (Rs 36.71 crore), the squads have seized liquor, drugs, precious metals and freebies worth Rs 77.17 crore.
CEO releases PIB Handbook for election
Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Wednesday released a handbook, prepared by the Press Information Bureau, for the Lok Sabha election. The handbook has a brief history of how the election system in India evolved over a period and a lot of information and data on the past Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, model code of conduct, instructions to political parties and candidates, polling details of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for all constituencies etc. The CEO also honoured the team which prepared this guide with shawls. Additional Director General, PIB (News) M Annadurai was present.