Of the total 58,008 polling stations, including 1,312 auxiliary booths, the Election Commission has identified 12,001 as critical polling stations and Bengaluru has the highest number of such stations, at 1,595.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told reporters here on Tuesday that all critical polling stations would be provided with additional security measures and supervision. “We will provide these polling stations with either half section of the Central paramilitary forces or webcasting or micro observers or a combination of all these three. As many as 585 companies of the Central forces (a total of 45,000 persons) are being deployed for elections this time,” he said. Bengaluru is followed by Belagavi with 891 critical polling stations and Mysuru with 632 such stations. Similarly, the commission has also identified 61 expenditure-sensitive constituencies and 178 expenditure-sensitive pockets, the CEO said.
Service voters
Of the total 28,622 service voters enrolled in Karnataka, Belagavi has the highest at 14,302. This is followed by Hassan with 1,502 and Vijayapura with 1,293.
This time, Karnataka will use electronically transmitted postal ballot system to expedite the process of voting for service voters. Posters and a video explaining the process of e-voting for service voters and a video message by Air Marshal K.C. Nanda Cariappa (retd.), son of Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, the first Indian Army Commander-in-Chief, were released by Air Marshal S.K. Ghotia on Tuesday.
