Preparations on for Udupi-Chikmagalur polls

Eligible people can register themselves in the electoral roll till Feb 23

The administration has started making preparations for the by-election to the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency on March 18.

Briefing reporters on Tuesday on the arrangements being made for the by-election, Deputy Commissioner Dr M T Reju said that the notification for the election will be issued on Wednesday. The last date for filing nominations is February 29. The model code of conduct is already in force. The scrutiny of the nominations will be done on March 1 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidatures is on March 3. The counting will be held on March 21, he added.

Dr Reju, who is also the returning officer, said that the nomination will be accepted at the Udupi DC’s office.

The parliamentary constituency  comprises eight assembly segments -Udupi, Karkala, Kundapur and Kaup in Udupi district and Sringeri, Mudigere, Chikmagalur and Tarikere in Chikmagalur district.

There are nearly 1,510 polling booths in the constituency and additional 10 to 15 auxiliary booth centers might be set up depending on the need.

According to the Election Commission norms the number of voters for one polling booth should not exceed 1,300. There as many as 12,45,256 voters in the constituency of which, there are as many as 6,26,876 voters in Udupi district and 6,18,390 voters in Chikmagalur district.

The number of voters may increase as applications for epic card is accepted for the purpose of poll till February 23 and the electoral list will be uploaded on February 29.

A meeting of district-level officials including sectoral magistrates and nodal officers is held to discuss the poll preparations, he added.

As many as 99.66 per cent of epic cards with photo is made available to the voters in Udupi district and in Chikmagalur it is 95.89 percentage. There seems to be no complications in the electoral list. However, substitutes like driving license and other proofs recommended by Election Commission can be produced in the absence of epic card. There is enough number of EVMs in the constituency.

As many as 7,500 officials and 1,500 police personnel will be deployed for the election purpose.

The campaign will end on March 16, he informed.

Superintendent of Police Dr Boralingaiah M B informed that during last Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha polls, there were 1,593 polling booths, of which 573 were normal, 559 are sensitive and 261 are hyper sensitive. However, the list of booths will be available only after the revised list of auxiliary polling booths is finalised, he added.