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Lok Sabha elections 2019: 4 control rooms for smooth polls
“At least four control rooms have been set up in the CEO’s office at Kashmere Gate,” said a senior Delhi poll body official.
Four control rooms will be up and running at Delhi’s chief electoral officer’s office from 5am on Sunday, to ensure that the poll process is completed smoothly.
“At least four control rooms have been set up in the CEO’s office at Kashmere Gate. Apart from this, the returning officers of each parliamentary constituency have set up their own control rooms from where the entire election process will be monitored,” said a senior Delhi poll body official.
While the ‘mother control room’ has been operational since the elections were announced on March 10, there will be separate control rooms to coordinate pick-up and drop facilities for voters with physical disabilities and for receiving complaints about violations and untowards incidents, if any, among others. The sector officers and the flying squads will be notified as soon as a complaint is received.
“Even though voting starts at 7am, we have to report for duty at 5am. At least 500 officials will be posted at the CEO’s office and around 1.4 lakh polling officials will be on the field on Sunday. Everyone has been told to report at 5am. The polling officials will also have to reach their poll stations by 5am. This is because the mock poll drill will start at 6am with the actual voting beginning an hour later,” said a senior official.
The entire process — from reporting of polling officials at their respective booths, mock polling, voting process and complaints that pour in — will be directly monitored by the CEO though various apps developed by the Election Commission of India. “The voter turnout will be available every two hours on the Suvidha app. The returning officers and sector officers will also be sending their reports from time to time to the CEO’s office,” said the official.
At least 523 polling stations have been designated as ‘critical’. Videography, CCTV footages and webcasting from these stations would directly reach the control rooms of the returning officers’ office.
