Polling in 50% booths to be monitored through webcasting

THE POLLING WILL BEGIN AT 7 AM (ON FRIDAY) AND CONTINUE TILL 6PM, RINWA SAID AT A PRESS CONFERENCE.

LUCKNOW: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has completed its preparations for peaceful and fair polling in eight west UP Lok Sabha constituencies, Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said on Thursday.

The polling will begin at 7 am (on Friday) and continue till 6pm, Rinwa said at a press conference.

The ECI, CEO and district returning officer will monitor polling on 50% of the booths through webcasting. The ECI has also deployed 1510 video teams at the polling booths, he said.

Central paramilitary forces (CPMF) have been deployed in all the constituencies. Among the constituencies, Kairana has the highest number of candidates 14 and Nagina and Rampur the lowest at six each.

The commission has set up 111 model polling stations, 45 booths will be managed by women personnel, 36 by youths and 32 booths by differently abled staff. Arrangement of wheel chairs and volunteers have been made for people with disabilities.

The security of the strong rooms in which electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be stored after polling will be also in the hands o the CPMF. The ECI has also stationed air ambulance and helicopters in Moradabad and Bareilly to transport security personnel in an emergency, he said.

To maintain vigil, ECI has posted six general observers, five police observers, 10 expenditure observers, 1272 sector magistrates, 150 zonal magistrates, 103 static magistrates and 1,861 micro observers in the eight constituencies, Rinwa said.

Voter information slips and voter guide s have been distributed among 99.27% voters.

Voters can log in to the ECI website and Voter Helpline App to collect information about polling booths in their constituencies. Booth level officers will set up help desk near booths to assist voters, Rinwa said.

The voters can also lodge complaints on 18001801950 as well as on C- Vigil App.

For the first phase, 448 complaints were received on the app in which 264 were correct and 164 fake. A total of 233 complaints were disposed of within 100 minutes.

From March 16 till April 17, liquor, drug and cash worth Rs 9.72 crore were seized, he said.

HT PHOTO Preparations for webcasting of polling on 50% booths in 8 Lok Sabha constituencies underway at the office of chief electoral officer, in Lucknow on Friday.