Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Hassan districts are all set for Monday’s election to the Legislative Council from South Graduates’ Constituency. This time, the duration of voting has been extended by an hour and the graduates registered in the constituency and are going to exercise their franchise will be getting a holiday.
The voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 pm. In the past elections, the voting used to conclude at 4 p.m. However, on the request from the candidates, the duration has been extended by an hour in this election.
Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, Regional Commissioner G.C. Prakash said 150 polling booths will operate in the four districts. All precautions have been taken for the smooth conduct of the polls.
Only registered graduates will be getting a holiday upon exercising their ballot, and there won’t be any holiday for schools and colleges or other institutions. They would function as usual on Monday.
Out of 150 polling booths, 68 booths and 17 booths have been identified as sensitive and hypersensitive respectively. A total of 13 booths in Mandya, two booths each in Mysuru and Hassan have been identified as hypersensitive and adequate security arrangements have been made, he said.
Observer
Senior IAS officer V. Ponnuraju has been appointed as the Observer for the polls in South Graduates’ Constituency. In total, 600 staff will be deployed for poll duty. The employees of the Union Government will be deployed as micro observers in all 150 polling booths. The election proceedings will be video-graphed.
Mr. Prakash said any complaint on violation of poll conduct can be made to the EC by the voters besides reporting instances of candidates or their supporters luring the voters.
Counting
The counting of votes will take place on June 15 at Maharani’s Commerce and Management College here and around 28 tables will be kept ready for it. The counting process may take about 15-20 hours to complete if the poll percentage crossed 50 per cent.
Seized
Mr. Prakash said ganja worth ₹31 lakh has been seized from the people who were allegedly associated with the candidates belonging to various parties, during the enforcement of poll code. The poll officials and the staff found ganja during raids carried out so far in the run-up to the poll.
A total of 21 kg of ganja has been seized. Case will also be registered under the poll code since ganja has been seized during the campaign. Cases under a separate section will be registered by the police as well, he said.
In total, 516 cases have been booked for the violation of model code of conduct. The cases in districts were - 113 in Mysuru, 162 in Chamarajanagar, 63 in Hassan, and 178 in Mandya.
Mr. Prakash said 12 vehicles that flouted the poll code have also been seized. However, no cash has been seized, he added.
