All set for polling in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies of third phase
Bhopal: As many as one crore 69 lakh 53 thousand 358 voters will cast their votes in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on April 24 in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies Vidisha, Dewas (SC), Ujjain (SC), Mandsaur, Ratlam (ST), Dhar (ST), Indore, Khargone (ST), Khandwa and Betul (ST). These include 87 lakh 81 thousand 495 male, 81 lakh 71 thousand 532 female and 349 other voters. There are 5 thousand 230 service voters also.
These 10 Parliamentary constituencies cover 20 districts and 80 Vidhan Sabha constituencies where polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. As many as one 118 candidates are in the fray including 17 woman candidates. Same number of candidates had contested in Lok Sabha elections in year 2009 also. Concrete security arrangements have been made to ensure free and fair elections. All polling parties have been fully equipped. They will leave for polling booths on April 23 and stay in the night there.
As many as 19 thousand 446 polling booths have been set up in the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies including 378 auxiliary polling booths. Indore has maximum 2207 polling booths and Dhar minimum 1722 followed by 1973 in Vidisha, 1917 in Dewas, 1823 in Ujjain, 1898 in Mandsaur, 1983 in Ratlam, 1877 in Khargone, 1965 in Khandwa and 2081 in Betul. Total 23 thousand 854 ballot units (EVM) and 21 thousand 424 control units (CUs) will be used in this phase.
Of the one lakh 6 thousand 278 polling staff, 84 thousand 650 are government servants, 16 thousand 162 police personnel and 5 thousand drivers-conductors. Besides, 14 general observers, 10 election expenses observers, 80 assistant election expenses observers and 2601 micro observers have also been deployed.
Indore has the maximum 22 candidates and Dhar minimum 7 candidates. In other constituencies, Vidisha and Ujjain have 12 candidates each, Dewas 11, Mandsaur and Khandwa 14 each, Ratlam 10 and Khargone and Betul have 8 candidates each. Of the 10 constituencies, Dewas and Ujjain are reserved for scheduled castes and Ratlam, Dhar, Khargone and Betul for scheduled tribes.
Security arrangements: Meanwhile, concrete security arrangements have been made to ensure free and fair elections in these 10 Lok Sabha constituencies. As many as 103 companies of CAPF and 50 companies of SAF have been deployed apart from 2440 police officers, 16 thousand 289 head constables/constables, 10 thousand 730 home guards and 19 thousand 447 special police officers will keep watch over law & order situation. Borders of the constituencies have been sealed and proper search operations are being undertaken. So far, 564 majra-tolas have been identified under vulnerable mapping and 10 thousand 998 voters have been identified. In all, 71 thousand 801 licensed weapons have been deposited in these areas. On the polling day, 249 flying squads, 245 SST, 240 QRT, 240 check-posts and 1734 sector mobile police personnel will be deployed.
Webcasting: Webcasting will be undertaken at 416 polling booths of critical category out of 19 thousand 446 polling booths in the 10 Parliamentary constituencies. Web cameras will keep watch over these critical polling booths and activities there will be visible on the polling day on the website of Chief Electoral Officer www.ceomadhyapradesh.nic.in. The number of these critical polling booths in 20 districts is 2 thousand 901, which will be guarded by jawans of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).
Arrangement of one thousand 584 micro observers, 484 still cameras and one thousand 584 video cameras has been made for critical polling booths. In this way, total 2 thousand 901 critical polling booths will be under observation of micro observers, still cameras, videography teams and webcasting.
