The district machinery has been geared up to ensure free and fair conduct of the elections.
District Election Officer and the Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik expressed the hope that people would turn up in large numbers to exercise their franchise.
Pointing out that a study of the voting pattern in the Nilgiris over the years revealed that people in the rural areas had always displayed enthusiasm in casting their votes while those in the urban areas had been indifferent, she said that from this election even the urban voters should be keen on doing their duty.
Under the distribution of booth slips, the coverage so far was 91.98 per cent. The remaining would be distributed on Tuesday. Voters who were not in favour of any candidate could exercise the 49(O) option.
The Collector said 2,819 personnel would be on poll duty and disciplinary action would be initiated against those who did not cooperate.
To ensure that all the polling materials including Electronic Voting Machines reach the booths in time a dry run was carried out to various places including Thengumorahada, Kinnakorai and Upper Bhavani on Sunday. Frequency of bus services would be increased for the convenience of voters in remote places such as Chokanhalli.
Superintendent of Police, the Nilgiris, S.Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar said that adequate bundobust would be provided to all the booths particularly those declared as critical or vulnerable.
There would be checkposts on inter-State borders and within the district. While Quick Reaction Teams would be deployed in some places Special Task Force personnel would guard forest areas.
Totally, 1,200 security personnel would be on duty. So far, 105 cases relating to violation of the code of conduct had been registered. A flag march was conducted on Monday to instil confidence among the voters.
