Mangaluru DC Senthil warns of stern action against election code violation

Mock tests will be conducted in every constituency at the second-level checking of EVMs and VVPAT machines, to assure candidates of the proper functioning of the machines, Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth S Senthil said.

He was speaking at the meeting on Monday for representatives of political parties from Mangaluru North constituency. About 5% of the EVMs will be selected by the representatives and tested by conducting a mock voting for 1,000 votes. A mock test has been done at the first-level for 5,000 votes, he said.

'Eye on expenditures'

Mangalore North constituency (202) Returning Officer Prashant Kumar S B said that the flying squads, and the static and video surveillance teams will keep track of the expenditures of the parties and the candidates.

The candidates have to maintain day-to-day accounts and separate bank accounts of their expenditures. Simultaneously, a schedule register with the details of their expenditure will be maintained by the surveillance teams. Election expenditure exceeding Rs 20,000 should be borne by cash only, said the officer. There is no limit for a political party for expenditure on campaigning. However, a candidate can spend up to Rs 28 lakh. An FIR will be lodged against parties displaying posters with their party symbol.

Voter slips

The DC said that the Election Commission will take steps to ensure that all voters get the voters' slips, which will contain the photo identification, the epic number, the polling booth number and related information. The slips will be distributed to the houses of the voters before one week of the polling date. However, the slip is not a mandatory document for voting. If the voters do not get the slip, they may avail of the same from the booth-level officers. The slips distributed by the political parties must not contain the symbol of any party or pictures of the candidates.

Voters can also check information related to their booth, including location and number on the website. http://dk.nic.in/election/ The information can also be availed of by sending a text message to the number 9731979899 in the format KAEPIC voters' id number. People can utilise the mobile applications 'Samadhan' and 'Suvidha', meant for single window monitoring and grievance redressal. Sugam' app has been designed for personnel on election duty.