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Special poll observers for high-profile constituencies

Sanjeev Kumar said that the commission has also decided to keep an eye on the expenditure in a few Lok Sabha constituencies.

Bengaluru: The Election Commission is contemplating deputing special observers to a few Lok Sabha constituencies including Mandya Lok Sabha seat where a high decibel fight is taking place between the Chief Minister's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh.

Addressing the media here on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka (CEO), Sanjeev Kumar said that commission is considering the demand of political parties to depute special observers to Mandya, Hassan, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Shivamogga, Kalaburagi and Ballari constituencies.

The commission has appointed general observers and expenditure observers for all Lok Sabha constituencies, Mr Kumar said and added that the commission has also decided to keep an eye on the expenditure in a few Lok Sabha constituencies.

However, he refused to divulge details of the constituencies which would be under the radar for expenditure incurred. Besides, the commission is on a high alert in Mandya based on complaints from candidates and political parties.

The flying squads, static surveillance teams, the excise department and commercial tax officials have seized cash of 13.70 crore and liquor worth Rs. 57.89 crore. Besides the income tax department has seized cash of Rs. 12.01 crore and other items worth Rs. 1.47 crore, Mr Sanjeev Kumar said. All put together, the worth of the seizures is Rs. 62.99 crore.

As on April 4, the total number of voters for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in the state is 5,11,02440. In 2014, the total number was 4, 62,09813 with nearly 49 lakh new voters added in the last five years.

Of the 5.11 crore voters, there are 10,09,167 young voters in the 18-19 age group. Of the total voters, there are 2.58 crore males, 2.52 crore females and the remaining 4,661 voters belong to the third gender, Mr. Sanjeev Kumar explained. The Election Commission has established 58,186 polling booths across the state. It has established 639 Sakhi booths (women polling stations) where only women polling staff will be deployed. Besides ethnic booths have also been established in a few places, the CEO said.

There are 478 candidates in the fray for all 28 Lok Sabha constituencies.

In Belagavi alone, 57 candidates are contesting the elections.

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