Elections are round the corner for local bodies in the state including that to the Mysore City Corporation (MCC). “Calendar of events will be published for elections to the local bodies soon,” said State Election Commissioner C R Chikkamutt today, directing all deputy commissioners to make necessary preparations by the end of the month and be ready for the civic polls.
Mysore division comprises of two city corporations, seven city municipalities, 23 municipalities and 19 town municipalities, with 1,968,580 voters of whom 1,007,925 are men and 989,455 are women.
Addressing a meeting of the Mysore Regional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners of the districts of the region, District Police Superintendents, District Excise Officers, Deputy Commissioners of Transport and Regional Transport Officers, Chikkamutt asked them to concentrate on poll preparations from today.
He told them to complete preparations for transport, security among others before the calendar of events are announced.
“Code of conduct should be strictly enforced. Mass weddings and other similar programmes by political leaders should not be allowed after the the calendar of events came into effect. Similarly, scope should not be given for political leaders to make use of religious platforms,” the election commissioner told the officers.
Asking them to appoint officials of the audit department to keep an eye on the election expenses by candidates, Chikkamutt said state-level election observers will be appointed to assist district-level observers.
The candidates’ expenditure in respect of publicity and illegal transport of liquor should be also watched. He directed them to arrange for video filming at sensitive polling booths and suggested appointing a nodal officer for a group of wards, to ensure that the code of conduct came into effect strictly during the election period.
Giving details of Mysore district, Deputy Commissioner P S Vastrade said, 4,225 ballot units and 2,816 CBs were required for the district. Arrangements had been made to store the electronic voting machines in the storing place at the district-level. Centres for mustering and demustering had been identified and would be equipped with the facilities required. Places for counting of votes and security would be reported to the Election Commission after discussing with the police department.
Steps would be taken to appoint one presiding officer and three electoral officers for each polling booth after training them. The agency concerned had been asked to prepare the electoral rolls and objections be attended to as per rules, he said.
Steps had also been taken to appoint a nodal officer each for 10 wards and they would be trained at the district level, the deputy commissioner said.
