The Chennai district election office, on Monday, began updating its >election portal with details of election expenditure, submitted by candidates contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
As many as 12 candidates in Chennai Central constituency have started submitting election expenditure data on a daily basis.
The candidates include Dayanidhi Maran of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, S.R. Vijaya Kumar of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and J. Prabhakar of Aam Aadmi Party.
A total of 102 candidates are in the fray for the elections in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in the city.
Some of the candidates have also included the expenses incurred on posters, banned in the election campaign.
More than 20,000 walls have been cleared of posters by the Corporation’s workers over the past few weeks.
Most of the candidates’ expenses pertain to pamphlets, stickers, band services, street meetings, party meetings, light fixtures and alternative media centres.
Data on expenditure of candidates in Chennai North and Chennai South will be uploaded shortly.
The district election office has completed mapping of 3,337 polling stations in the city.
Electors can also check the location and address of their polling station by visiting the portal.
“This is the first Lok Sabha election to have a map of all the polling stations online,” said an official of the district election office.
The portal will also be used to impart training and facilitate communication with student volunteers who webcast the elections. “The training began on Monday. Over 1,000 students participated,” said an official.
The web portal will also facilitate redressal of election-related grievances in the run-up to the elections.
All complaints will be tracked using the portal, which will have comprehensive data and information on the elections.
“A large number of electors in the age group of 18-30 are likely to be attracted to elections with such a facility. Over 45,000 visitors have used the data, so far. We are planning to use the portal to improve turnout in the elections,” the official said.
The district election office, on Monday, shifted electronic voting machines to Chennai North and Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituencies.
