The campaign in Piravom Assembly constituency gathered momentum as candidates of both the UDF and the LDF filed nomination papers on Monday.
UDF candidate Anoop Jacob and LDF candidate M.J. Jacob along with independent candidate Varghese P. Cherian filed the papers taking the number of candidates in the fray to five as on Monday. BJP candidate K.R. Rajagopal and independent candidate K. Padmarajan had already filed nominations.
While four sets of nominations were filed for Mr. Anoop Jacob, two sets were filed for Mr. M.J. Jacob. A fresh set of papers were filed for the BJP candidate on Monday taking the number of nominations submitted for him to three.
The District Collector P.I. Sheikh Pareed, who is also the district election officer, said that the strike called by trade unions will not affect the election work. The offices of the Election Deputy Collector, returning officer, assistant returning officer, and electoral registration officer will operate as usual on Tuesday.
Arrangements will be made to facilitate filing of nominations at the offices of the returning and assistant returning officers. Election Deputy Collector S. Shanavas said that adequate police protection has been ensured for offices and vehicles engaged in election duty.
The preliminary inspection of voting machines to be used for the byelection started at the district collectorate on Monday.
The election will need 134 machines in as many polling stations.
An additional 40 per cent machines will be held as a buffer while another 10 per cent will be set apart for training.
Inspection of these machines was also under way.
After ensuring the functioning of machines, they will be affixed with special certification sticker before bringing them under the control of returning officer concerned. Mr. Pareed said that the initial inspection will be completed in three days.
Inspection is being carried out by about 10 officials from Keltron and the Electronic Corporation of India under the supervision of the Keltron district coordinator Kalyan Krishnan.
After the inspection, a trial run by casting 100-odd votes will be held to ensure the efficacy of the machines.
