16 transgender voters in Udupi

Udupi Deputy Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati said that there are 1,111 polling booths with 9,90,773 voters in the district.

The deputy commissioner, who is also the district election officer, told reporters that, out of the total voters in the district, 4,77,243 are male voters, 5,13,514 are female voters and 16 transgender voters in the district.

Giving the break-up details in each constituency, Korlapati said that there were 2,22,542 voters (1,08,252 male, 1,14,289 female) in Byndoor constituency; 2,00,101 (99,598 male, 1,05,966 female) voters in Udupi; 1,81,178 (86,308 male, 94,858 female) voters in Kaup and 1,81,386 (86,921 male, 94,464 female) voters in Karkala constituency.

The DEO also said that 16,525 young voters had enrolled themselves in the district and around 6,584 voters were identified as physically challenged.

“In spite of the absence of pink booths, measures have been taken to attract women and disabled voters to polling booths. As many as 255 polling booths have been categorised as sensitive and 37 polling booths as hyper-sensitive in the district. Epic cards too have been issued to all voters,” said Korlapati.

Speaking further, the officer said, “Demonstrations on VVPAT and EVMs will be organised all over the district. Additional 5% EVMs and VVPATs will be set aside for emergencies. Auxiliary polling booths will be opened if there are more than 1,400 voters. The 33 auxiliary polling booths from the previous elections have been converted into normal polling booths.”

She said that spot voters’ registration was held in the district on March 2 and 3, when 12,500 voters were registered. The applications are being scrutinised.

Voters can enrol until the nominations are completed, she explained.

The assistant returning officers are Land Record deputy director Kusumadhar Gowda (Byndoor), assistant commissioner Dr S S Madhukeshwar (Kundapur), Agriculture joint director Kempegowda (Udupi), Civil Service and Food Supply deputy director Nagaraj (Kaup) and the planning director, Urban Development Cell, Santhosh Kumar (Karkala).

A helpline with toll-free 1950 is set up and apps will be used to register complaints for violation of poll code of conduct, the deputy commissioner informed.