‘We’re fully prepared’: EC gears up for Karnataka polls

The Election Commission prohibits public meetings 48 hours before the end of polling, and hence all parties are barred from holding rallies and roadshows.

With Karnataka set to vote on Wednesday, elaborate security arrangements have been made, and a large workforce of election functionaries have been deployed to hold the polls, chief electoral officer of Karnataka Manoj Kumar Meena said on Monday.

BSF personnel guard a sealed room where electronic voting machines (EVMs) are stored in Bengaluru. (AFP)

“We are distributing all the materials to polling parties on Tuesday. We are fully prepared. Now that the outside canvassing is over, we are checking everywhere campaigning is still going on. We are also checking hotels if there are political functionaries who are not voters of the constituency,” Meena said.

The Election Commission prohibits public meetings 48 hours before the end of polling, and hence all parties are barred from holding rallies and roadshows. However, political parties are allowed to hold door-to-door campaigns before the polls.

During the ‘silence period’ that is 48 hours before the closure of polling, political functionaries are mandated to leave the constituency if they are not voters of that Assembly seat.

The CEO said protocols are in place for police force deployment across the state, and the vulnerable polling stations will be monitored through webcasting. “Almost 30,000 polling stations are covered through webcasting, which will be directly telecasted to the Returning Officer’s chamber.”

“The other polling stations will be covered by the micro-observers, who are the Central government employees, or the paramilitary forces,” Meena said, adding that there would not be any issue in conducting the elections smoothly.

There are 58,545 polling booths across the state and more than 8,000 in Bengaluru, according to Meena. The EC has deployed 84,119 police personnel, including 2,959 special personnel, for the elections.

The poll body has also imposed a ‘dry day’ from May 8, 6 pm till the end of May 10. “The sale of liquor will be prohibited from 5 pm on May 8 to 6 am on May 11, and from 6 am on May 13 to 6 am on May 14. Flying squads will keep a strict vigil on private establishments to enforce the rule,” the EC order read.

The Election Commission has also released the ‘Chunavana’ mobile application that will provide all information related to the elections for the convenience of voters.

The app will offer user’s polling booth location, navigation to the polling booth, candidate information, polling officers’ details, the queue at the polling station on a real-time basis, available parking space and nearby emergency facilities, the CEC said, stressing that this would help tackle urban voter’s apathy.

“Urban voters don’t come out to cast their votes due to long queues, parking issues. The ‘Chunavana’ app aims to address these issues. If you know your Assembly constituency and the polling station, you can check the number of people in the queue at a particular time. We have also made arrangements at cluster polling stations (more than one polling booth) so that there is enough parking space available. Our local traffic will update it,” he said.

With Bengaluru witnessing rains, Meena expressed apprehension about the voter turnout. “Earlier we thought it would be the heat, but it’s the rain that we’re worried about. We are making sure that there is enough shade at polling booths to tackle this,” he said.

According to the IMD, light to moderate rains is very likely in parts of coastal Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka, and South Interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru, on May 9, 10 and 11.

Responding to reports of the facial recognition technology that the polling booths will be equipped with, the CEO said the idea is still under consideration. “The idea came from one of the teams at the hackathon held recently. Facial recognition helps in cutting down the waiting time in the line. It is still under consideration. We have not taken any decision.”

Meanwhile, transport and police services are likely to be affected in Bengaluru due to the elections.

Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy said that the personnel have been deployed for polling-related duties till May 11, and asked residents to dial 112 in case of emergencies. “Each of us, right from @CPBlr to the last person of @BlrCityPolice including @blrcitytraffic, will be on polling-related duties till 11th May. Other services, incl Traffic will be impacted,” Reddy tweeted.

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) said their services would be affected on May 9 and 10 as they have deployed a significant number of buses for poll-related duties and urged commuters to plan their travel accordingly.

However, the metro services in the state capital will be extended on the day of polling, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said Monday.

In a statement, the BMRCL said that Metro services in the city would be extended till midnight on May 10. “The last train from the terminal stations Baiyappanahalli, Kengeri, Nagasandra, Silk Institute, Krishnarajapura (KR Puram) and Whitefield (Kadugodi) would depart at 12.05 am on May 11. The last trains from Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station, Majestic will leave at 12.35 am, towards four terminals: Baiyappanahalli, Kengeri, Nagasandra, Silk Institute on May 11,” the statement read.

The polling for the 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka will be held on Wednesday, May 10, between 7 am and 6 pm. Over 5.31 crore voters will decide the fate of 2,615 candidates.