Distribution of voters' booth slip begins
Chennai: With just nine days left for high profile RK Nagar bypoll, election officials on Monday began distribution of voters' booth slips and also started recording visuals of CCTV cameras installed at RK Nagar to prevent distribution of cash for votes.
Chennai corporation commissioner and District Election Officer D. Karthikeyan and Chennai Police Commissioner Karan Singha took a visit to the constituency and inspected the security arrangement in place and also reviewed the logistics in place.
“Booth slips with photographs of voters are ready and by Saturday all voters will received their slips. This can be used as a proof of identity for voting,” Karthikeyan told DC.
All the observers are micro managing the constituency and poll management system is in place. We are registering all complaints given by political parties and the action taken report is updated from the officials concerned, the DEO added.
There are 256 polling booths and each booth will have four ballot units as there are 62 candidates in the fray. The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will also be available in all the booths, he added. In addition to five observers already appointed by the EC, the poll panel has brought in one more observer, an IAS officer, from Gujarat, Karthikeyan said.
Chennai Police Commissioner Karan Singha who reviewed the security arrangements in RK Nagar told reporters that so far '7 lakh cash has been recovered from the constituency during vehicle check-ups. So far there is no incident of “major violence”, he added.
According to poll officials RK Nagar received 145 poll code violation complaints received with action against 141 complaints. Public are not openly coming and registering complaints. “More than 90 per cent of the complaints are politically motivated and there are also just allegations without facts. There have been cases of cash distribution and issuance of gifts against which action is already taken,” a corporation official said.