Udupi District All Set to Hold Free and Fair Loksabha Polls on April 26
Udupi: The District Administration has made elaborate arrangements for the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Loksabha polls to be held on April 26.
Government officials, personnel of civic bodies, and teachers have left for their designated places for election duty. They will take their positions at their respective polling booths spread all over the district. St Cecily’s College ground which is the de-mustering center was busy with officials carrying the EVMs in one hand and their baggage for overnight stay in another. All of them have been ordered to stay near their polling booth on the previous night, and adequate arrangements have also been made for their stay.
Udupi-Chikkamagaluru has a total of 15,85,162 registered voters, comprising 7,68,215 males, 8,16,910 females, and 37 transgender individuals, with the highest concentration observed in Chikkamagaluru, amounting to 2,32,210 voters.
According to Udupi SP Dr Arun K., of the 866 booths going for elections, 177 are critical booths, and all the normal booths have at least one policeman deployed. Dr Arun told reporters on Wednesday that all the individual booths are grouped into 57 sectors and a PSI or ASI monitors each sector. The 57 sector officers are overseen by 14 supervisory officers of the rank of Inspectors.
These supervisory officers are, in turn, monitored by four DSPs, one for each assembly constituency.
The 177 critical booths include 36 booths located in previously Naxal-affected areas. All 36 booths are provided with armed guards as per ECI guidelines. In addition, there are six armed police patrol vehicles, each covering six booths, and A DSP is deputed to monitor these 36 booths. The SP said this is in addition to the webcasting or micro-observer in those booths.
All Inspectors and officers above them have a separate striking force to respond to any law and order situation. Besides that, four reserve platoons are there to respond to unforeseen circumstances. In total, three SP rank officers, six DSPs, 15 Inspectors, 1501 policemen of other ranks, and around 500 reserve policemen are deployed as part of the security arrangement.
The roll call for all the men and officers was completed on Wednesday, and they will be sent to the concerned polling booths from the mustering centers on Thursday. SP Arun said that route marches were conducted in all important towns. Adequate arrangements have been undertaken for the conduct of free and fair elections. To attend to other emergencies, 112 staff have not taken on election duties. The public is requested to call 112 in case of emergencies. There is also lien staff deployed in police stations to attend to regular activities, he added.