The stage has been set for the second phase of polling for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Seemandhra from 7 a.m. on Wednesday.
Collectors of all the 13 districts have made arrangements for free and fair conduct of the elections and the polling personnel, material and EVMs have reached the 40,709 polling stations. About 3.68 crore electorate, including 57 lakh new voters, are expected to exercise their franchise for 333 contesting candidates of Parliamentary seats and 2,241 candidates for the Assembly seats in fray, said Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal here on Tuesday.
Faulty EVMs replacedAddressing a media conference, Mr. Bhanwar Lal said in view of the delayed polling due to technical snags in EVMs in the first phase, the polling officers checked the EVMs in advance on Tuesday and some faulty ones were replaced.
Compared to 72 per cent voting in Telangana, he hoped the voter turnout would be between 85 and 90 per cent.
The highly sensitive and tamper proof ECIL manufactured EVMs would be used only in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Krishna districts.
In the remaining 10 districts, the BEL EVMs have been supplied to the polling stations.
In the absence of photo voter ID or photo voter slip issued by the election machinery, Mr. Bhanwar Lal said the voters could carry any one of the 11 identity proof documents – passport, driving licences, PAN card, Aadhar Card, Smart card, MNREGA job card, pension document etc.
To bring in transparency in the voting process, 70 per cent of the polling stations were covered with live web casting and political parties and public could watch the proceedings on the big screens erected at mandal headquarters, he said.
About 5,000 micro observers were deployed in all the districts. About 95,000 State police force, 272 companies of armed Central police force have been deployed.
Referring to complaints that some private companies did not declare holiday on May 7, Mr. Bhanwar Lal said all private, public, IT, educational institutions and shops should declare holiday, else the Commissioner of Labour as well as the Election Commission would file cases.
Urging people not to accept inducements like liquor, cash, gifts, he said criminal cases would be filed against people who offer and those who accept them. Public could complain to 1950 toll-free number or SMS to 8790499899.
A control room with telephone Nos. 040-23459364, 23450360, 23450343, 23450260 and 23450434 was set up in the CEO’s office.
As on Tuesday morning, Rs. 138 crore cash and 5.5 lakh litres of liquor had been seized.
Cases would be taken up by fast track courts and disposed of within six months, including convictions. The convicted candidates would be disqualified for the present polls as well as elections for the next six years.
