Flying squads to monitor implementation of poll code

Vulnerability mapping will be done by March 13, says Visakhapatnam District Election Officer and District Collector S Solomon Arokia Raj.

District Election Officer and District Collector S Solomon Arokia Raj (left).

Teams, including flying squads, have been formed at various levels to monitor implementation of Model Code of Conduct and expenditure and video surveillance will be used in view of the notification issued by the Election Commission of India, District Election Officer and District Collector S Solomon Arokia Raj has said. Polling will take place on May 7.

Expenditure-sensitive

Barring Araku, Paderu, Madugula and Chodavaram, all the other Assembly constituencies have been declared expenditure-sensitive, he told reporters here on Thursday.

By March 13, law and order sensitivity and vulnerability mapping will be done. As of now, 80 companies of paramilitary forces and 30 special teams of Greyhounds will be deployed to oversee the election in which a total of 32,19,585 voters (as of now) will exercise the franchise in 3,506 polling stations.

Two helicopters have been requisitioned to transport material and personnel to eight inaccessible polling stations at Palakajeedi and M. Bhimavaram, 300 km from here, Mr. Arokia Raj said. The electors-population ratio is 72.4 per cent.

The requirement of polling personnel is between 17,000 and 20,000.

About 5,000 control units (EVMs) and 12,000 ballot units are required to carry out the polling. An inspection will be carried out and mock polling conducted with 5 per cent machines.

Electronic surveillance

Round-the-clock electronic surveillance will be kept at breweries and distilleries and the Joint Collector will see to it that the quantity (of liquor) would not be more than that of the last year during this period.

Paid news

The Collector said a Media Monitoring Committee would look into aspects of paid news and it would be formed with a senior citizen, Information and Broadcasting Department Official and a neutral journalist.

The expenditure of the candidate would be counted from the day of his filing of nominations and any other poll-related expenses would be credited to the respective parties until then, the Collector said.

All the columns (in the nomination form) have to be filled and candidates have to declare if they have deposits in foreign banks.

Joint Collector Praveen Kumar and DRO Venkateswara Rao were present.