BBMP to deploy 297 flying squads, 104 checkposts and 679 sector officers for election-related work

Bengaluru: Bengaluru will go to polls on April 26 across 8,982 polling stations, District Election Officer (DEO) and BBMP Commissioner Tushar Girinath said on Saturday.

He was addressing party representatives and the media at the BBMP head office.

A total of 78,90,480 voters will vote across three constituencies in Bengaluru, and over 1 lakh voters are new. Nearly 46,000 staff will be deployed for polling stations management.

With the Model Code of Conduct in effect from Saturday, the DEO has appointed 297 flying squads, 339 static surveillance teams, 104 checkposts and 679 sector officers to ensure the MCC is not violated. They will keep an eye out for any suspicious financial transactions and work with several agencies, including bankers, income tax and GST authorities and excise department officials.

Over the next 24 hours, they will remove any banners, flexes, and posters for election purposes from government property, besides checking for the misuse of official vehicles, setting up a media centre, and a complaint monitoring system. In the next 48 hours, they will check defacement of public property and misuse of public space, and check private property defacement in the next 72 hours.

Voter helpline 

The voter helpline will be live for voters to check if their names are on the list. Additionally, they can dial 1950 helpline or contact their local BLO office, until March 25 to file applications to get their names on the list.

To address urban voter apathy, officers are devising turnout implementation microplans. At least 1,786 polling stations have a voter turnout of 10 per cent or below, for which they will continue giving door to door awareness and hold public awareness campaigns.

They will start handing out 12D forms by Monday for senior citizens aged 85 and above and people with 40 per cent and above disabilities to enrol for home collection of votes. 

Expenditure incurred 

Candidates can spend up to Rs 95 lakhs for election campaigning and must open a separate bank account for this purpose at least one day before filing their nominations. 

Candidates should provide election offices their details in three formats: Daily Register, Cash Register, and Bank Register and file all election-related expenses with documentation accordingly. Should candidates participate in any campaigns, rallies, programs organised by star campaigners in their favour, all those costs will be considered the candidate’s campaign expenditure.