JOIN USAs the high-voltage electioneering comes to an end on Tuesday evening, Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha has asked people to exercise certain cautions.
Briefing reporters, Jha said that giving or taking bribe to vote for a particular party was an offence, which attracted imprisonment of up to one year apart from penalty. Impersonation, too, is a serious crime. He said ferrying voters to the polling booths by candidates or political parties has been prohibited. For the convenience of voters, the Election Commission will operate ferrying services.
Voters are not allowed to use their mobile phones inside the booths. They can deposit their phones with the security personnel or the returning officer. People who want information about their polling booths can log on to the CEO Karnataka’s website http: //ceokarnataka. kar.nic.in. They can also get details through SMS by typing KAEPIC
About the guidelines for political parties for setting up their booths to help voters, Jha said such booths should be set up at least 200 metres away from the polling booths. They can have one table, two chairs and can put up an umbrella. They can also have a banner which should not be more than 4.5ft x 3ft.
Party workers can provide voter slips to voters in plain white paper without bearing any colour or party symbol. The candidates will have to inform at how many places they would be setting up such booths. He said essential services such as public transport vehicles, medical shops and hospitals will continue to operate.