Kodagu: 1,700 officials deployed for polling today

The elections to 35 Gram Panchayats in Virajpet taluk will be held between 7 am and 5 pm on Sunday. The mustering process was held at St Annamma School on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy along with election observer Devaraja inspected the mustering works.

Tahsildar Yogananda said that there are 1,24,501 voters in the taluk. A total of 1,700 officials have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the polling.

The polling booths in Maoist infested areas are situated at Birunani 2, Makutta and Paragatakeri. Fifty-four polling booths have been identified as those affected by wild elephant menace, he said.

The services of 54 private buses, 24 minibuses and 29 jeeps have been utilised to ferry polling officials and materials to the polling stations, he added.

DySP C T Jayakumar said that 1 DySP, 4 CPI, 11 SIs, 33 ASIs, 260 police personnel, 1 KSRTC platoon and 3 DAR platoons have been deployed for security purpose. Three full-fledged vehicles have also been deployed in Maoist infested areas.

Taluk Health Officer Dr Yathiraj said that 36 are infected with Covid-19 in the taluk and seven of the infected have said that they will not exercise their franchise.

If others wish to exercise their franchise, arrangements will be made for them from 4 pm to 5 pm to vote, he added.