Considering the rising temperature in the state the Chief Electoral Officer announced the introduction of medical kits at all polling booths in the state.
All 2,829 polling stations under Bangalore Rural parliament constituency will be equipped with webcasting facilities, said Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, at a press conference in Bangalore today. The CEO said that the decision was taken following a request by returning officers and observers. Moreover, he clarified that webcasting will be available only to the Election Commission and not the political parties. Kathyayini Chamaraj, representative of Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) in Karnataka, said that webcasting would ensure transparency in the election process.
In addition to this, more than double the usual number of paramilitary forces have been deployed in Bangalore Rural constituency. Seven companies of central paramilitary forces were inducted at the constituency on April 22, he said.
With less than two days left for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in 14 constituencies of the state, Meena said that 1.4 lakh polling officials will be on duty at 30,602 polling stations on Friday. Apart from this, 50,000 civil police personnel, 65 companies of paramilitary forces and State Armed Police force of other states will also be deployed for security at the polling booths, the CEO said.
189 major MCC violations cases booked in Karnataka
Since the Model Code of Conduct kicked in the state, 189 major cases of violation of Modal Code of Conduct have been recorded. These include 23 cases of hate speech, 37 cases of inducement, and 15 cases of misuse of religious places. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) have more than 30 cases registered against them each.
Medical kits at polling booths
Keeping in mind the scorching heat, the EC has also decided to provide medical kits at every booth. Additionally an ambulance will be made available for a cluster of booths.
QR code to polling booths
A QR code will be available at the back of voters slip that can be scanned to find directions to polling booths. This is being used for the first time in parliamentary elections. However, he said that they have already executed it in the teachers’ constituency elections in Bengaluru, which turned out to be successful, leading to an increase in voting share of 20 percent-from 66 percent to 86 percent.
The 14 constituencies going to polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka are Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkballapur and Kolar. There are a total of 2,88,19,342 voters including service voters in these constituencies of which 1,44,28,099 are male, 1,43,88,176 female and 3,067 third gender.
