220 gram panchayats to go for polling in two phases

As many as 1,527 polling booths will be set up in 220 gram panchayats in Dakshina Kannada district which goes to polling in two phases -- on December 22 and 27.

“The polling will be held in 220 out of 228 gram panchayats in the district as a few gram panchayats have been either upgraded or the term of some gram panchayats has not ended,” Deputy Commissioner Dr Rajendra K V informed media persons on Monday.

The election to 106 gram panchayats in Mangaluru, Moodbidri, and Bantwal taluks will be held on December 22, the DC said.

Of the 106 gram panchayats, 37 are in Mangaluru, 12 in Moodbidri and 57 in Bantwal taluks. There are 817 polling booths in these three taluks, including 322 in Mangaluru, 99 in Moodbidri and 396 in Bantwal. A total of 1,681 candidates will be elected from 106 gram panchayats.

In the second phase, elections will be held for 114 gram panchayats. Of this, 46 are from Belthangady, 22 from Puttur, 25 from Sullia and 21 from Kadaba taluks, he added.

There are 710 polling booths in four taluks with 292 in Belthangady, 151 in Puttur, 132 in Sullia, and 135 in Kadaba.

A total of 1,541 members have to be elected. Venoor, Pudu, Arambodi, Bajpe, Maravoor, Kinnigoli, Mennabettu and Kondemoola gram panchayats will not go for polling. The district administration has already appointed 220 returning officers and 233 assistant returning officers.

The ballot boxes have been readied for the election, Dr Rajendra said and added that a total of 2,626 ballot boxes will be used in seven taluks.

The ballot papers will be printed locally as no EVMs were used in the election. Initially, there were 1,400 polling booths in the district.

But the number of polling booths was increased to 1,527 as a polling booth should not have more than 1.000 voters in a bid to maintain social distance as under Covid-19 guidelines.

A total of 10,39,217 voters are eligible to cast their vote. Among them, women voters outnumber men voters (5,26,288 voters are women voters). There are 21 transgender voters. Of the total polling booths, 397 are sensitive, 199 are hypersensitive and 931 are general polling booths.

The voters can enrol their names for the second phase of the gram panchayat elections until December 8, he added.

The election will be conducted as per the guidelines issued by the State Election Commission.

Exemption for deposit of arms

Those who seek exemption for the deposit of arms should apply to the taluk-level committee by December 10. The committee will scrutinise the applications.

The exemption will be provided for those farmers who need arms to save their standing crops and those without criminal antecedents, the DC clarified.