9.26 lakh voters in coffee land, says DC Srirangaiah

The revised voters' list of Chikkamagaluru district comprises of the names of 9.26 lakh voters, said Deputy Commissioner M K Srirangaiah.

As per the reorganisation of Assembly constituencies, 1,222 polling booths will be set up for the upcoming parliamentary elections, he added.

Addressing reporters at his office on Wednesday, he said that the draft of the revised list of voters' has been released. The same list is applicable to the elections of the urban local bodies.

Compared to the earlier Assembly elections, the number of polling booths has been increased by 52 while the number of voters has dwindled to 11,164.

There were 1,170 polling booths in the district, during the last Assembly elections. Muttodi polling booth has been dissolved as there are only two voters in the booth, said the DC.

The number of new polling booths is as follows: Chikkamagaluru – 19, Kaduru – 14, Mudigere – 5, Sringeri - 7 and Tarikere - 7.

Srirangaiah further said that the number of voters in the district as per the voters' list prepared on April 30, 2018, was 9,37,199. There are 9,26,035 voters as per the latest draft. Among these, there are 4,62,020 male, 4,63,973 female and 42 third gender voters.

The names of 6,585 voters have been newly included during the revision. About 10,825 names have been omitted from the list, owing to deaths, repeated entries and change of address of voters. Addition and deletion of names in the voters' list will be a continuous process, he added.

"The confusions regarding the ward-wise voters' list has been sorted out," added Srirangaiah.

A couple of farmers are dissatisfied with the rate fixed by the administration, towards their acquired lands. Talks will be held with the farmers again, to solve the issue. The Kaveri irrigation corporation has been requested to release the funds towards the compensation. But, the fund is not yet released, said the DC.

Currently, there are some hindrances to make the due payments to the water tanker owners, with regard to the supply of water in villages. The government intervention will soon be sought to clear the arrears, said Srirangaiah.