Hyderabad: A total of Rs 135 crore cash has been seized since the election code was announced for the December 7 elections, Chief Electoral Officer Dr Rajat Kumar said on Thursday. This is twice the amount confiscated in 2014 in the undivided state.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for the polling in 119 constituencies. Mr Kumar said 44,415 ballot units, 7,557 reserve ballot units, 32,016 control units and 4,432 reserve control units were being used along with 32,016 VVPATs and 5,261 reserve VVPATs. “Over 240 engineers from BEL and ECIL, the manufacturuers, will be available, at least one in each constituency,” he said.
A majority of the 4,57,809 persons with disabilities (PwDs) who enrolled, are likely to vote due to the awareness drive. Special facilities such as free transport, grilled ramps, wheelchairs, no-queue facility and separate parking have been provided for them. A total of 29,541 volunteers will assist them for voting.
The CEO said each of the 32,815 polling stations will be manned by five personnel and one or two constables on an average. Strike forces were positioned at strategic points to handle any untoward incident.
Two helicopters will be positioned to airlift men and material wherever required and use as ambulances in case of need.
The December 7 elections have several firsts. This is the election in the new state and the first tme VVPATs are being used in all 119 constituencies
For the first time, software tools are extensively used. By downloading c-Vigil, anyone can complain about rule violations, and using Naa Votu, a voter could trace the polling station. Suvidha and Sugam were used as single-window facility to get permission for meetings and utilising vehicles. So far, 8,071 complaints are received through c-Vigil and 5,872 disposed of.
A round-the-clock watch over the arrangements and code violations as listed in c-Vigil, is being kept by Dr Rajat Kumar through the “dedicated monitoring cell” activated in his office on Thursday manned by 17 Nodal Officers.
The number of voters after final rectification of rolls is 2,80,64,684, among them 1,41,56,182 are men, 1,39,05,811 are women and 2,691 fall under the others category. It is hoped that more than 70 per cent of them will exercise their franchise.
Dr Kumar, said the voting awareness campaigns were vigorous that overall polling percentage may be more than the 68.9 per cent registered in Telangana.
Representing several political parties, 1,821 candidates are in the fray. Malkajgiri has the highest number of 42 contestants and Banswada the least at 6.
