EC, police hold survey to sniff out sensitive booths

The Election Commission (EC) and the police department are conducting a survey to identify sensitive booths in the city and the state.

The exercise is being undertaken to deploy additional security at these booths on the day of voting.

The two agencies are also working on deploying Karnataka’s popular dog squad at identified critical booths on the election day - May 12. It will be for the first time that the dog squad will be used on polling day.

Normally, the dog squad is deployed as part of the pre-poll exercise to check select booths, EVMs and areas around the polling booths.

N Manjunath Prasad, the district election officer, said that a detailed security management plan was being prepared. Critical booths are being identified with the help of micro-level observers and the city police commissioner as per the election code of conduct. Based on the data obtained, security will be deployed at these booths.

The sensitive booths are being identified based on the number of voters there and the voter behaviour during the previous elections. Sensitive booths are more likely to be in constituencies from where ‘famous’ candidates are in the fray and where law and order could be a problem.

Booths are designated as critical based also on the track record of violence in the respective areas.

Pink booths (all-women booths) will not be on the critical list as they are being introduced for the first time. Five booths per constituency will be made pink booths.

The police are in favour of deploying the dog squad as the elections are being conducted in a single phase and doing so will not be a problem. The dog squad of Karnataka has 219 canines, of which 59 are in Bengaluru alone.