Central paramilitary forces are to be deployed closest to the strongrooms where electronic voting machines are being kept, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said on Friday.
Twenty-seven companies would be used. Big districts would have one each, while smaller districts would have half a company each.
He was responding to concerns expressed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa on the issue.
The CEO said personnel of the Tamil Nadu Special Police would be kept in the outer perimeter of the strong rooms, which would have double locking system. If the rooms had to be opened, it had to be done in the presence of candidates or their agents.
Log books would be kept in counting centres and the visit of any official including observers, Collectors and Superintendents of Police had to be recorded in the books. The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation had been directed to provide an uninterrupted power supply to the strongrooms. Three web cameras would be kept outside the rooms and they would capture images all through the day.
Returning officers were required to inspect the counting centres concerned twice a day while District Collectors had to visit the centres at regular intervals.
49-0
The CEO said 24,591 persons had exercised the option of 49-O [refusal to cast vote in favour of any candidate]. Of the districts, Chennai accounted for the maximum number of 3,407 persons; Coimbatore – 3,061; Tiruppur – 1,796; Kancheepuram – 1,391; Tiruvallur – 1,347; Erode – 1,133; Tirunelveli – 1,109 and Tiruchi – 1,046. Among other districts were Salem (940 persons); Tuticorin (879 persons) and Madurai (783 persons).
On the smooth conduct of polling, Mr. Praveen Kumar said the credit should go to the people of the State, “who are the real heroes.”
Pat for EC team
He said the entire team in his department including P. Amudha and D.Raajendiran, additional CEOs, Pooja Kulkarni and P.C. Santhanakrishnan, joint CEOs and K.S. Natarajan, deputy secretary, was also responsible for the successful conduct of the exercise.
