Ranga Reddy district has added nearly 3.5 lakh voters during the last two-and-a-half months alone, increasing its total voter-count to over 53 lakh for the oncoming general elections. From 50,00,723 voters, the number has reached 53,48,927 now which is said to be the highest number of voters in the State, said District Collector B. Sreedhar at a pre-election media briefing on Wednesday.
Delineating the election arrangements, he said auxiliary polling stations have been allotted wherever the number of voters has exceeded 1,600. Along with the 573 auxiliary stations, the total number of polling stations has also gone up to 5,042 from the earlier 4,469. So far, 481 contestants filed nominations for the Assembly polls, of whom 330 would contest the elections after 68 rejections and 83 withdrawals.
Polling time has been increased by an hour this time, and indelible ink would be applied to the right hand’s forefinger instead of the left hand’s, in view of the just-concluded municipal, ZP, and panchayat elections, he said.
In most constituencies in the city, the number of contestants has exceeded the Electronic Voting Machine’s (EVM) capacity, necessitating additional balloting units. Hence, 6,000 more units have been commissioned afresh, Mr. Sreedhar said.
Postal ballot facility has been provided to the polling staff, which includes RTC drivers, polling officers, presiding officers and police. They need to apply for postal ballot on April 21, 22 & 23, following a separate notification for the same.
Voter slips would be distributed to all a week before, which would preclude the need to carry elector’s ID card.
“We have conducted awareness campaigns in IT companies and factories to increase voters’ turnout in the district from its average 58 per cent to 70 per cent,” Mr. Sreedhar informed.
During vehicle checking, about Rs. 14 crore was seized in various incidents. A total of 1,500 micro-observers would be deployed at sensitive polling stations and nearly 2,000 students would be engaged for webcasting and videographing of the polls.
Six general observers, five expenditure observers and two police observers have already been appointed. Ballot boxes of the municipal, ZPTC/MPTC and panchayat elections, held during the past one month, have been kept at a secure place, and counting would begin after May 7, he informed.
Training classes for polling officersTraining classes for Other Polling Officers (OPOs) would be held on April 17 and 19 at eight different training centres, GHMC Commissioner and District Election Officer Somesh Kumar said. Polling personnel having any grievances regarding the training could contact Ph. 21111111 or SMS on 9963550665 for clarifications, said a press release.
