On Sunday, political parties were busy giving final touches to the strategies for securing maximum votes for their Assembly election candidates on Monday.
Party workers were engaged in setting up temporary booths with symbols and pictures of the candidates and decking up the booths with festoons. As per the instructions of the Election Commission, such booths can be set up only at a distance of at least 200 metres away from the polling stations.
Unlike the recently held local body elections during which weather conditions were quite conducive on the polling day, the overcast sky and the predictions of weathermen that it may rain heavily on the polling day has left the poll managers a worried lot.
Fearing rain, the temporary shacks, which served as polling booths of political parties earlier, were replaced by more secure units set up at the ground floors and courtyards of wayside commercial buildings including shops. All political parties have formed squads for ensuring that their sure votes are polled before the end of the polling.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has formed squads for every 50 voters in a booth. Similar squads have also been formed for every 50 houses in the locality. A list of sure voters has been created along with another list which includes the voters who may vote for the party candidate. Each Mandalam Committee member will be coordinating at least five to eight booths and the senior party functionaries will oversee the activities of the Mandalam committee members and the squads, said a senior CPI(M) leader.
The Congress and the BJP too have devised their own mechanisms for ensuring that the sure votes are polled without fail.
While most of the men voters in the city area and a few women would prefer to exercise their franchise during the first few hours of voting, homemakers usually come for voting in the afternoon after finishing their daily chorus, said a senior politician who oversaw many election campaigns in the city.
