The Chennai District Election Office has started educating voters of critical polling stations at 18 localities in Chennai North constituency.
Sector magistrates have visited the neighbourhoods of R.K. Nagar and Kolathur to conduct street awareness programmes and build capacity ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Most of the areas where voters face the risk of intimidation were identified in R.K. Nagar, which falls under Chennai North constituency.
Other constituencies have not identified critical polling stations yet. A total of 760 officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), and the Centre will be appointed as micro-observers in critical and vulnerable polling stations to curb intimidation of voters. Their training is expected to commence next week. Personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will be stationed at the locations where voters are likely to be intimidated. Web streaming of all polling stations will be implemented to prevent strongarming and intimidation.
While the sector magistrates visit the localities for consultation with the public, the residents have been requested to report issues pertaining to intimidation faced ahead of elections to facilitate better surveillance by the Election Commission.
