Micro observers to monitor 235 vulnerable polling booths

District Collector and Returning Officer R. Brindha Devi has said that micro observers would monitor 235 vulnerable polling booths in the 11 Assembly constituencies in the district.

In Salem district, there are 11 Assembly constituencies. Salem North, Salem South, Salem West, Veerapandi, Omalur, and Edappadi assembly constituencies come under the Salem Lob Sabha constituency. Mettur segment comes under the Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency and the Sankagiri Assembly constituency comes under the Namakkal Lok Sabha constituency. Likewise, Attur, Yercaud, and Gangavalli constituencies come under the Kallakurichi Lok Sabha constituency.

A total of 3,260 polling booths have been set up in the district and works for installing CCTV cameras in all the booths are going on. In the district, 235 polling booths have been identified as vulnerable, including 15 polling booths that are very sensitive. Of these, 89 come under the Salem City Police limits, and 146 booths come under Salem District Police limits.

District Collector R. Brindha Devi said that in Salem Lok Sabha constituency alone, 130 polling booths were identified as vulnerable, including 14 that were very sensitive. In that, 82 come under the city police limits and 48 under the district police limits. All vulnerable polling booths will be monitored through web cameras and they will be under the control of micro observers and the Central Industrial Security Force. The web camera recording will be monitored by the State Election Commission office, district general observers, and the District Collector. Basic amenities like drinking water, toilets, and power supply will be available in all the polling booths, Ms. Devi added.