According to KVNChakradhar Babu, Nellore District Collector and Returning Officer for the by-election to the seat of Tirupati Lok Sabha, the machinery is fully equipped to ensure free and fair elections in angry COVID-19 cases on Saturday.
He monitored the movement of men and material to polling stations with a constituency of 17.10 lakh voters under tight security and said the by-election would take place in full compliance with the COVID-19 protocol.
Appeal to voters
He wanted people to come in large numbers to vote. He also wanted people to wear face masks, clean their hands with santizers, and keep physical distance at polling stations.
The 10,850 electoral staff had been vaccinated, said the collector. Another 500 polling stations were created to ensure that no polling station had more than 1,000 voters against 1,500 voters under normal conditions, he said.
The vote would begin at 7 a.m. after a mock poll was conducted an hour earlier. About 23 central paramilitary companies and three companies APSP personnel would provide foolproof security.
“The election time will be extended by two hours to 7 p.m. in order to avoid overcrowding of the polling stations at a certain time and to take into account the prevailing heat wave condition in the assembly segments Sarvepalli, Gudur, Sullurpeta and Venkatagiri in the districts of Nellore and Srikalahasti in the district, Satyaveedu and Tirupati in the district Chittoor, ”he said.
Video recording would be carried out at all polling stations. Webcasting would be conducted at 1,241 critical polling stations to ensure transparency, he said after visiting a few polling stations.
The collector appealed to voters to use the Indian Electoral Commission booth app to download the digital voter receipt and know the queue status at a specific time to minimize their waiting time.
People over 80 years of age and disabled people could use the mobile voting booth to vote. Up to 497 service voters could vote online, he said.
Special precautions have been taken to allow COVID-19 patients and those with suspected symptoms to vote in the elections. They will be provided with PPE kits at the polling station.
‘ID must be’
He claimed that the ballot papers were not considered identification and asked voters to bring one of the ECI-recognized identification cards to exercise their right to vote. Based on the previous track record, 30,000 people have been tied for good behavior.