Udupi: The district administration has made all necessary preparations for the Gram Panchayat elections on Friday May, 29 in the district.
As many as 4,740 candidates are in fray for the 2398 seats in 155 gram Panchayats in Udupi district.
Though the number of available seats are 2,398, a total of 272 members have been elected unopposed.
There are a total of 697,523 voters in the district, of which 3,65,042 are male, 3,65.042 female voters and 25 third geder voters. The number of candidates elected unopposed in Kundapur are 142, Udupi—90 and Karkala—40.
For 733 seats in 62 gram panchayats in Kundapur taluk, a total of 1693 candidates are in fray. Two thousand and eighty two candidates are contesting for 941 seats in 59 gram panchayats of Udupi taluk and 965 candidates are contesting for 452 seats of 34 GPs in Karkala taluk.
Superintendent of Police Annamalai speaking to mangalorean.com said that out of 907 polling booths, 131 have been identified as sensitive, 59 as hypersensitive and 54 as Maoist affected areas. Around 1376 police personnel including KISF, Kerala armed forces, Home Guards, costal security police have been deployed across the district.
The sale of alcoholic beverages would be banned in Udupi, Kundapur and Karkala taluks. Voters can poll by producing any one of the 22 photo identity proofs, if they do not have the Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC). The alternative photo identity proofs include passport, driving licence, service identity card of state or central government, PAN card, Aadhar card, passbook issued by bank or post office, MGNREGA job card, health insurance card issued by ministry of labour, pension document with photograph and authenticated finger of the left hand.