Amidst confusion during the mustering and demustering at the Padua Educational Institutions campus on Thursday for the gram panchayat polls, the district administration has geared up to hold the elections on Friday.
Confusion prevailed following a delay in the arrival of ballot papers to the centre. Instead of 8 a.m., the papers arrived only at 11.30 a.m. and the authorities cited the shortage of personnel to transport the same.
Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer A.B. Ibrahim said that the administration was ready for the polls. Dakshina Kannada has a history of good voter turnout, with 73.51 per cent of the voters exercising their franchise during the previous gram panchayat elections, he said.
Though no large-scale malpractices were reported in the district during the run-up to the polls, there were a few minor complaints, including allegations of political parties carrying out the campaign on party-lines, which is prohibited by law. The administration has ensured adequate security, particularly at booths categorised as sensitive and hyper sensitive, Mr. Ibrahim said. The district has 880 polling booths of which 65 have been classified as naxal-prone, 139 as hyper sensitive, 216 as sensitive and 460 as normal. As many as 2,700 police personnel have been deployed for security arrangements, according to Superintendent of Police S.D. Sharanappa.
He said as many as 61 mobile sector squads and 10 supervisory mobile squads would keep tab on the poll process even as polling would be video recorded in select polling booths.
Polling statistics of 2010 GP elections
Taluk | Total voters | Votes polled | Percentage | ||||
Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | Total | ||
Mangaluru | 1,23,183 | 1,36,444 | 2,59,627 | 86,800 | 97,747 | 1,84,547 | 71.08 |
Bantwal | 1,15,508 | 1,13,698 | 2,29,206 | 83,577 | 83,557 | 1,69,538 | 73.97 |
Belthangady | 83,213 | 80,884 | 1,64,097 | 59,222 | 59,222 | 1,18,218 | 72.04 |
Puttur | 79,478 | 76,921 | 1,56,399 | 59,335 | 59,335 | 1,17,974 | 75.43 |
Sullia | 42,444 | 41,423 | 83,867 | 33,352 | 32,773 | 66,325 | 79.08 |
Total | 4,43,826 | 4,49,370 | 8,93,196 | 3,22,486 | 3,34,116 | 6,56,602 | 73.51 |
*Source: District Election Officer
