Returning Officer of Karur constituency T. Anbalagan on Tuesday said three ballot units would be used in each electronic voting machine (EVM) in Karur constituency in order to accommodate all candidates contesting the polls.
Since 42 candidates were in fray, it required at least three ballot units, Mr. Anbalagan told The Hindu .
Unlike the previous elections, pictures of candidates would also find their place along with their names and symbols on the ballot papers. It would be applicable to Independent candidates too and the move was aimed at helping voters differentiate among namesakes.
Mr. Anbalagan, who is also the District Election Officer, said the process of printing ballot papers was on. They would be uploaded to EVMs about four days before April 18 — the poll date. The exercise would take place at the strong rooms in Karur, Krishnarayapuram, Aravakurichi, Viralimalai, Manapparai and Vedasandur Assembly segments in the presence of agents of political parties and candidates. The EVMs had already been moved to the strong rooms. Also, it had been decided to keep 20% of the EVMs on standby in order to replace malfunctioning units.
There would be 1,031 polling stations in the constituency at 608 places and all of them were disabled friendly. Ramps had been provided at all polling booths to ensure that persons with disabilities did not face any hassle in accessing the booths.
The Returning Officer said that out of 1,031 booths, one of them was identified as critical and 68 vulnerable based on law and order incidents and voting per cent beyond 90 in the past elections. Besides posting CRPF personnel to man the vulnerable booths, the entire proceedings would be video recorded. Arrangements were also being made to webcast the polling process.
Mr. Anbalagan said intensive vehicle checks were being carried at various places to prevent transportation of unaccounted cash. A sum of ₹41 lakh was seized in Karur district since the model code of conduct came into force.
