Deputy Commissioner M.T. Reju, who is the Returning Officer for Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha Constituency, said on Tuesday that all arrangements were made in Udupi and Chikmagalur districts for the forthcoming by-election.
Mr. Reju told presspersons here on Tuesday that there were a total of 12,45,266 voters in the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency. “Among the voters, 6,38,519 are women and 6,06,747 are men,” he said.
The Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha Constituency comprises four Assembly constituencies each in Udupi and Chikmagalur districts. The four Assembly constituencies in Udupi district are Kundapur, Udupi, Kaup and Karkala while the four in Chikmagalur district are Chikmagalur, Sringeri, Tarikere, and Mudigere (reserved for Scheduled Caste).
Those who are not on the electoral rolls can get themselves enrolled until Thursday (February 23). The final electoral rolls would be prepared on February 29.
Polling booths
As many as 1,510 polling booths would be set up, including 649 booths in the four Assembly constituencies of Udupi district and 861 booths in the four Assembly constituencies of Chikmagalur district.
However, since the Election Commission's guidelines recommend an auxiliary polling booth, where the numbers of voters exceed 1,300 persons, some auxiliary polling booths would have to be set up.
Some polling booths near National Highway 66 would be shifted to other places on account of the ongoing widening work of the highway in Udupi district.
A meeting of the officers of the two districts in connection with the preparation for the by-election had been held. A meeting with the political parties had been held.
A list of sensitive and hypersensitive polling booths in the Lok Sabha constituency, especially in the naxal affected areas, was being drawn up. The list would be available in four days.
The notification for the by-poll would be issued on February 22. The last date for filing nominations was February 29. The scrutiny of nominations would take place on March 1. The late date for withdrawal of nominations was March 3. The polling would be held on March 18. The counting of votes would take place at the T.A. Pai English Medium School in Udupi on March 21.
Nearly 7,500 government employees (excluding police personnel) would be involved in the smooth conduct of the poll, Mr. Reju said.
Superintendent of Police M.B. Boralingaiah, Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar, and Zilla Panchayat CEO Prabhakar Sharma, were present.
