The stage is set for the by-election to the Tiruchi West Assembly constituency on Thursday with electronic voting machines (EVMs) and other polling materials being transported to the 240 polling stations on Wednesday.
Polling will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sixteen candidates are in the fray.M. Paranjothi of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and former Transport Minister K.N. Nehru of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are among the main contenders.
Five companies of Central armed forces have been deployed in the constituency, which has 2,08,427 voters including 1,05,497 women, 1,02,924 men and six transgender. This is in addition to the Tamil Nadu Special Police, Armed Reserve and local police.
The entire polling process will be webcast and recorded from all the polling stations. It will be monitored by the Collector and District Electoral Officer and the Chief Electoral Officer in Chennai.
Micro observers have been posted in all the polling stations to monitor the polling. The election process is already being monitored by the observers, R.K. Pathak (general), S. Parashiva Murthy (police) and Nivedita Biswas (expenditure).
The status of polling will be reported by the presiding officers at periodic intervals through text messages and monitored by officers.
No agent of candidates will be allowed to leave the polling station after 3 p.m. Booth slips, issued by the Election Commission, have been distributed to voters door-to-door.
Those who have not got the slips can get the same from the facilitation counters set up at polling stations.
Control rooms have been set up at the Collectorate and in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Chennai. Complaints regarding polling can be lodged on telephone by dialling 2461369/2411929 (fax) with the Collector's office or 1950 with the CEO's office.
The observers can be contacted on telephones: 9489273078 (Mr. Pathak); 9488760656 (Mr. Parashiva Murthy) and 9489173078 (Ms. Biswas).
