THOOTHUKUDI
The official machinery is fully geared to conduct the polling on April 6 in a peaceful manner, said District Election Officer K Senthil Raj here on Sunday.
The DEO, who inspected the security arrangements being done at the counting centre - Government Engineering College campus, told reporters that the ballot boxes from all the six Assembly Constituencies would be kept in individual rooms in the presence of the designated agents of the respective candidates after the polling was completed on Tuesday 7 p.m.
The security arrangements would be fool-proof that 75 CCTV cameras would be closely monitoring the movements of the entire campus. While the three-tier security would be in the order of Central forces, followed by the TN police and on the outer ring the agents of the candidates can keep an eye on the rooms from a CCTV, the DEO, SP and Observers would also be inspecting at periodic intervals as per the Election Commission of India's guidelines, Dr Senthil Raj said.
He said that about 20 % of the ballot boxes/EVMs would be kept on reserve and would be moved to any polling station, in the event of any error that may arise from the machines. The DEO clarified that the poll staffs would be reaching the respective stations latest by Monday and take charge of the functional responsibilities.
The ballot boxes, EVMs, VVPAT, indelible ink, gloves for the voters, thermal scanner/gun and sanitizers would be transported to the respective stations through 158 mini-lorries under police security.
To a query on those with ailments such as fever or who had recently recovered from COVID-19 et al, he said that they would be permitted between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The DEO said that in all, 20000 staff including police and Central forces, Home Guards, Ex-servicemen and among others would be deployed. Out of 2097 polling stations, 302 were identified as vulnerable and five critical. Hence, web-cameras and micro-observers would be deputed to these stations.
The district has six Assembly Constituencies. In Thoothukudi and Kovilpatti, 26 candidates are in fray, in Srivaikundam: 21, Ottapidaram: 17, Vilathikulam and Tiruchendur: 15 each. A total of 120 candidates are in the race for six MLA posts and 14.87 lakh electorate would be exercising their votes. He appealed to all the stakeholders to cooperate with the official machinery for a peaceful conduct of the exercise.
