13,51,245 voters to exercise franchise in Udupi district

Voters’ list will be displayed on March 9 in each polling station: DC 

Udupi district Deputy Commissioner Muddu Mohan said that as many as 13,51,245 persons in Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency will exercise their franchise in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls to be held on April 17 in Karnataka.

Speaking to media persons here on Friday, the DC said that the notification for the elections would be issued on March 19 following which nominations will be accepted from March 19 to 26. The nominations will be verified on March 27 and the candidates may withdraw their candidature on March 29.

The DC added that there are 6,95,969 voters in Udupi district and 6,55,276 voters in Chikmagalur district. Nearly 99.98 per cent EPIC coverage has been done. There are 23,446 more voters compared to the last elections.

As many as 6,465 applications are in the process of verification. March 16 will be the last date for the people to submit applications to enroll themselves in the voters list. The list of the voters will be displayed on March 9 in each polling station. There are nearly 1,751 polling stations in the constituency, of which 819 are in Udupi and 932 are in Chikmagalur.

Eye on campaigning

Muddu Mohan said as many as five teams have been initiated to keep vigil on the political activities of various political parties. These teams comprise of flying squad, static surveillance team, video viewing team, sector officer and video surveillance team.

A candidate can invest up to Rs 70 lakh as poll expenditure. Besides, media certification and monitoring committee is formed to monitor media activities in terms of carrying poll advertisements. He added that general observer, police observer, awareness observer, expenditure observer, micro observer and assistant expenditure observer have been appointed.

The DC further said that as many as 27 campus ambassadors are being appointed to create awareness in as many as 20 colleges over the importance of voting. SVEEP programme would also be held towards awareness creation, he said and added that the political parties should take prior permission from police department for campaigning rallies and meetings.

The campaigning is permitted from 6 am to 10 pm. He said the voter who is reluctant to vote for any candidate can go for ‘NOTA’ (None Of The Above) option in the Electronic Voter’s Machine this time.

The DC added that 1,549 ballet units and 1,210 control units have been set up in Udupi district while there are 1,340 control units and 1,710 ballet units in Chikmagalur district. There are total of 3,250 ballet units and 2,550 control units in Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency. The complaint monitoring control rooms have also been set up, he added.

The contact numbers of the control rooms are: 1077 (DC Office, Udupi), 0820-2521198 (Tahsildar Office, Udupi), 0824-235567 (Tahsildar Office, Kundapur) and 08258-230201 (Tahsildar Office, Karkala).