Arrangements in place for smooth conduct of Lok Sabha polls: CEO

Adequate personnel, numbering around 1.88 lakh, have been deployed for election duties and 63,000 police personnel including 160 companies of the Central forces, have been roped in for the conduct of the elections in Telangana, says Chief Electoral OŽcer

The State election ošcials are gearing up for the smooth and peaceful conduct of the ensuing elections to Lok Sabha on May 13.

Vigil has been intensi†ed resulting in seizure of cash and material worth more than ₹125 crore since March 1 across the State.

Alerted by the confessional statements of accused in the phone tapping case that money was transported in government and police vehicles in the previous elections, ošcials this time around appear to be determined to ensure no scope for such developments.

A major concern for the State election ošcials, Chief Electoral Ošcer Vikas Raj in particular, appears to be low voter turnout in some Lok Sabha

constituencies as he said in an interview to M. Rajeev. Excerpts:

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar himself spoke about the low turnout in constituencies like Malkajgiri and Hyderabad. Any measures initiated to improve the voter percentage?

The CEC made these remarks during his interaction with the municipal

commissioners. We have directly interacted with representatives of 4,589 resident welfare associations covering 14.57 lakh households in di’erent parts of the State for improving voting percentage, explaining them about the facilities that have been put in place. We have visited the ošces of software companies to identify the problems, if any, for them in exercising their franchise. Similarly, we have convened meeting with the self-help groups in rural areas exhorting them to educate people about the importance of voting. Besides, we are collaborating with postal services, railways and other agencies in our e’orts to increase voting percentage.

Youth, students in particular, appear to be a bit indi‡erent to come and cast their vote?

We have reached out to degree colleges and universities to motivate youngsters.

In fact, campus ambassadors have been appointed in colleges/universities to motivate the youth to come forward to exercise their franchise, which is an important duty. We will use the social media for encouraging youth to cast their votes.

There has been a demand for setting up polling stations in the vicinity of gated communities. Any steps in that direction?

There are speci†c guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for setting up polling stations. We could not set up new polling stations as the time between Assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls is short.

We, however, decided to set up 250 auxiliary polling stations in remote and rural areas where people are †nding it dišcult to vote in view of the distances they should cover. The maximum limit for each polling booth is 1,500 voters, we have decided to relax the condition for remote areas and auxiliary polling stations are being set up in areas where the voter strength is around 300.

There has been signiˆcant rise in the seizure of material worth ₹125 crore intended to induce voters. What is the quantum likely to be by the polling day?

It is dišcult to get the numbers as seizures are spread over several departments. There are also cases with links to multiple departments. But we have taken all steps to ensure that there is no scope for movement of freebies like cash, liquor and precious metals. Moreover, political parties go ahead with their propaganda with their own plans not based on noti†cation.

What about the intensity of checking?

We have posted adequate number of static surveillance teams, ™ying squads and other personnel. We have also installed CCTV network at vantage points to check the movement of freebies. We will continue checking suspicious vehicles including government and police vehicles on a random basis as we cannot leave anything to chance.

NAGARA GOPAL Chief Electoral Oƒicer of Telangana, Vikas Raj.