Puri: The district administration has made elaborate arrangements to ensure free and fair Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Puri.
District Collector Jyotiprakash Das recently convened a press meet to highlight the measures introduced by the administration for smooth conduct of the polls.
According to Das, polling for Puri Lok Sabha seat and four Assembly seats—Pipli, Satyabadi, Puri and Brahmagiri—would be conducted April 23. “A notification in this regard would be issued March 28. Candidates can submit their nomination papers by April 4. Our officials would scrutinise the nomination papers April 5 and the final list of candidates would be published April 8,” Das said.
The Collector said that polling for two Assembly constituencies—Nimapara and Kakatpur—would be conducted April 29. The administration is scheduled to issue a notification for the elections in these two seats April 2. “Nimapara and Kakatpur Assembly segments are coming under the jurisdiction of Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituency. Candidates can file their nominations by April 9. We would scrutinise the nomination papers April 10. Withdrawal of nominations is scheduled for April 12,” said the Collector.
According to sources in the administration, Puri district has altogether 13, 54, 255 voters – 7, 04, 241 male, 6, 49, 954 women and 60 others. “We have also identified 18, 250 differently-abled voters in Puri. This time, the names of as many as 53, 465 new voters have been added to the list while the names of 28,000 voters have been deleted,” said an official of the district administration.
It is learnt that the administration would open 1,593 polling booths in the district. All the booths would have drinking water, toilet, rest room, ramp and wheelchair facilities. “We have prepared a budget of Rs 9 crore to conduct the polls. Till date, we have received Rs 5.70 crore. The administration would arrange vehicles to bring differently-abled voters to polling booths. We have asked the block development officers to construct ramps and ensure electricity facilities at all booths by March 15,” Das said.
According to Das, the administration has identified 145 booths in the district as sensitive. “There would be additional security arrangements for these sensitive booths. We would opt for webcasting, videography and photography to keep an eye on these booths,” he said.
The district administration would engage 13,000 employees for smooth conduct of the polls. “This time, we would have 1,700 women polling staff, 160 photographers, 239 videography recorders and 163 people for webcasting. All the vehicles engaged in the poll duty would be fitted with GPS tracking system,” Das added.