Polling in district to get under way at 7 a.m.
Polling for the 18th Lok Sabha elections will get under way in the district on Friday at 7 a.m.
Voting will last till 6 p.m. Mock polling will start at 6 a.m. Fifty votes in each polling booth will be cast as part of mock polling. After setting up the control units, actual voting will start at 7 a.m.
The district has 2,294 polling stations for which 2,753 ballot units, 2,753 control units, and 2,914 Voter Veriable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines have been kept ready. Web casting will be held at 1,735 booths.
O cials
As many as 11,028 polling o¦cials have been deployed.
They include 2,757 presiding o¦cers and rst polling o¦cers each, 5,514 polling o¦cers, and 231 sectoral o¦cers. Three micro-observers have been deployed for surveillance at polling stations.
The distribution of polling materials to each polling station was held on Thursday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Observers along with District Collector N.S.K.
Umesh visited the distribution centres.
A ballot unit, control unit, and a VVPAT machine was distributed for each polling booth.
Chalakudy
The Chalakudy constituency was assigned 1,198 sets and Ernakulam 1,130 sets. Over 500 vehicles were arranged for the transportation of polling o¦cials to their respective booths, while another 231 vehicles were arranged for sectoral o¦cers.
Wheelchairs for the differently abled, crèche for children accompanying voters, drinking water, and shade from heat have been arranged at the booths.
After voting, electronic voting machines (EVMs) from the Ernakulam constituency will be shifted to the strong room at the counting centre at the Cochin University of Science and Technology and EVMs from the Chalakudy constituency to the strong room of the counting centre at the Union Christian College in Aluva.
The district has a total electorate of 26,34,783 voters, including 13,52,692 women, 12,82,060 men, and 13 transpersons. The number of rst-time voters stood at 38,637.