Arrangements In Place For Free, Fair GVMC And Rural Polls: Collector
Polling for the 120 GVMC wards will be held on October 28 from 7 am to 5 pm: Reports
VISAKHAPATNAM: Visakhapatnam district authorities have made extensive arrangements for the smooth conduct of urban and rural local body elections, collector and district election officer M. Abhishek Kishore said on Saturday.
Addressing a joint press conference at the collectorate, the collector outlined preparations for the GVMC, ZPTC, MPTC and gram panchayat elections, covering polling stations, staff deployment and training, security and counting facilities. Police commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi, GVMC commissioner Ketan Garg, ZP CEO Narayana Murthy and DPO Srinivasa Rao attended.
Polling for the 120 GVMC wards will be held on October 28 from 7 am to 5 pm, with counting scheduled for October 30. So far, seven nominations have been received for the Mayor’s post and 331 for corporator posts. The GVMC limits have 18.37 lakh voters. More than 10,000 polling personnel have been identified for election duty.
The administration has appointed 41 Returning Officers and 41 assistant returning officers. Polling personnel will be assigned duties through randomisation in accordance with Election Commission guidelines. Ten distribution centres, one for each zone, have been established, while strong rooms and counting halls have been set up in nine Andhra University buildings.
The expenditure limit is `40 lakh for mayoral candidates and `15 lakh for corporator candidates.
GVMC voters will cast separate votes for Mayor and corporator using pink and white ballot papers, respectively. The Collector said both ballot papers must be placed in a single ballot box.
For rural local body elections, polling for four ZPTC and 53 MPTC seats will be held on November 3, with counting on November 5. The election notification will be issued on October 19. Nominations will be accepted from October 21 to 23, followed by scrutiny on October 24.
The district has 1.73 lakh rural voters. A total of 203 polling stations will be set up at 106 locations, with around 1,462 personnel deployed for election duty.
Elections will also be held in 79 gram panchayats, for which 802 polling stations are being arranged at 222 locations.
The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in force in both urban and rural areas. MCC teams, flying squads, static surveillance teams, video viewing teams and expenditure monitoring teams have been formed to enforce the code.
Since the election schedule was announced, authorities have removed around 1,000 posters, 1,600 banners and 350 flags. They have also covered more than 300 statues, along with over 300 foundation stones and inauguration plaques.
Police commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi said 6,607 police personnel would be deployed within GVMC limits and 2,907 for gram panchayat elections. Security arrangements include mobile patrols, striking forces, static pickets, surveillance teams, CCTV cameras, videography and drone monitoring.
