Udupi Dist administration Preparing for Free and Fair LS Polls – Hephsiba Rani Korlapati
Udupi: Deputy Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati said that the district administration is making preparations to conducting free and fair Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing the gathering at the DC office on Monday, March 11, said that there are 1,837 polling booths with 1494443 voters in the district.
The deputy commissioner, who is also the district election officer, told reporters that, out of the total voters in the Udupi–Chikkamagaluru constituency, 730288 are male voters, 764105 female voters and 40 transgenders.
Giving break-up details in each constituency, Korlapati said that there are 200101 voters (96164 male, 103937 female) in Kundapur constituency; 205566 (99598 male, 205566 female) voters in Udupi constituency; 181178 (86308 male, 94858 female) voters in Kaup constituency; 181386 (86921 male, 181386 female) in Karkala constituency; 164400 (81206 male, 83190 female) voters in Sringeri Constituency; 167150 (82405 male, 84736 female) voters in Moodigere; 212992 (106238 male, 106732 female) voters in Chikkamagaluru constituency and 181671 (91449 male, 90222 female) voters in Tharikere constituency.
The Election commission on Sunday had announced the schedule for Udupi–Chikkamaglruu Lok Sabha election on April 18. The notification for the first phase of elections would be issued on March 19, while the last day for filing of nominations is March 26. The nomination papers would be scrutinised on March 27 and the last day for withdrawal of nominations would be March 29. Counting of votes would be taken up on May 23.
Two women polling booths will be set up in all the eight Assembly constituencies for the first time as per the instructions of the Election Commission. In all the women polling booths, the booths will be managed by all women staff. Disabled voters are facilitated in all possible ways either by ramps, wheelchairs and there are volunteers appointed to take care of them. There are 10888 voters with various forms of disabilities in the district.
The Election Commission has said that the expenditure limit for Lok Sabha elections is Rs 70 lakh for each Lok Sabha candidate. As per the election commission direction, people will have to carry documentary proof when they travel with more than Rs 50000 in cash. Insisting on stringent action against poll code violations, the DC said that the media monitoring cell and media certification cell is in place. All the political advertisements that are displayed are removed within 24 hours following the declaration of poll code of conduct. Anyone who wants to organise programmes or celebrations should take permission from either the police department or the district administration. The district administration will form a surveillance team to monitor violations.
The assistant returning officers are Land assistant commissioner Dr S S Madhukeshwar (Kundapur), Agriculture joint director Kempegowda (Udupi), Civil Service and Food Supply deputy director Nagaraj (Kaup), the planning director, Urban Development Cell, Santhosh Kumar (Karkala), the project director ZP Chikmagaluru Nagaraj (Sringeri), Shivakumar assistant commissioner Chikkamagaluru (Moodigere), V S Heremath assistant secretary ZP (Chikkamagaluru) and B R Roopa Assistant commissioner Tarikere( Tarikere).
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a set of mobile apps and other online initiatives related to electoral processes which can be used by candidates and political parties to submit mandatory filings/statements or request certain permissions.
One of the App launched by ECI is Suvidha App. a single window system for both candidates and political parties to apply for permissions before conducting meetings, rallies, etc.
The Election Commission has made it compulsory for candidates contesting polls to advertise their criminal records in TV and newspapers at least three times during campaigns. According to the directions, political parties too will have to give publicity to the criminal records of candidates fielded by them.
This means that candidates and parties contesting the elections will have to publicise their criminal records at least on three different dates in widely circulated newspapers and popular TV channels during the campaign period.
Candidates who do not have records have to mention that. The candidates will now have to fill up an amended form (number 26).
They will have to inform parties about their antecedents such as cases in which they have been convicted and cases pending against them.
According to the Election Commission, political advertisements on social media will need pre-certification. These ads will also be part of the poll expenditure of the party.
The DC informed that social media platforms — Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have said all political advertisements will be certified.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has also directed officials to use vehicles installed with GPS trackers and mobile-based tracking system for transportation of reserve EVMs and VVPATs.
The Udupi district superintendent of police Nisha James said that all types of security measures have been taken by the district police to conduct free and fair elections. Already, sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling stations and booths have been identified. The police department has also kept vigil on the social media, she said.
Additional DC Vidya Kumari and Zilla Panchayat CEO Sindhu Rupesh were also present in the press meet.
