GP polls: 1,260 safety kits, 620 scanners supplied to Udupi

The district administration has taken all precautionary measures to conduct gram panchayat elections amid Covid-19 pandemic. The elections will be conducted for 153 gram panchayats in two phases - December 22 and 27.

The State Election Commission has supplied safety kits for polling officials and staff who have been deployed for election duty. The kits, supplied by MSIL, contains 4 sanitiser bottles of 500 ml each, 6 100 ml sanitiser bottles, 20 triple-layer surgical masks, 6 face shields, 6 hand gloves and one biomedical bag kit.

As many as 1,260 kits and 620 thermal scanners have been supplied to the district, which will be given to 5,040 officials, who have been deployed for the duty. Each polling booth will have 4 polling staff. Measures will be taken to maintain social distance while casting vote. Anganwadi workers have been deployed to check the body temperature of the voters using thermal scanners, said officials from the district administration.

In the first phase, 171 kits for Udupi taluk, 138 kits for Baindoor, 219 kits for Brahmavar and 72 kits for Hebri taluk will be supplied. In the second phase, 287 kits for Kundapura, 205 for Karkala and 151 kits for Kaup will be supplied.

The officials said that all the voters should wear a mask while arriving at the polling booth. The hands should be sanitised before exercising their franchise. Measures will be taken to ensure that there is no violation of Covid-19 guidelines.

The Covid-19 infected can also exercise their franchise, officials said.

Ban on liquor

With model code of conduct in place, the sale of liquor is banned in Udupi, Hebri, Brahmavar and Baindoor taluks till 5 pm of December 22. The sale and transportation of liquor is banned during this period. Hotels, restaurants and bars are also prohibited from selling liquor.