Southern States - Karnataka

Byelection: Proof of identity must for voting

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE May 4. The Election Commission (EC) has made production of voter's identity proof mandatory for the ensuing by-elections to the Narasimharaja Assembly Constituency, scheduled for May 31, to help prevent bogus voting.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the Deputy Commissioner, B.Basavaraju, said voters would have to produce their voter's identity card to cast ballots even if their names were found on the voters list. In the absence of a voter's identity card, they would have to produce any of the 22 options, including driving licence, ration card, electricity bill, bus pass, etc., which were considered as proof of identity by the EC.

Mr. Basavaraju said though the EC had issued a direction in this regard, the list of 22 options for proof of identity was awaited.

Sensitive

The district administration had urged the EC to declare the entire Narasimharaja Assembly Constituency "sensitive", he said and added that additional police reinforcement would be required for smooth conduct of elections.

Since the constituency comprised of several sensitive and hypersensitive booths, the Chief Electoral Officer had been requested to make available additional police "bundobust" from other districts to ensure free and fair polling.

Stating that 243 polling booths would be set up in the constituency, Mr. Basavaraju said it had 1,97,778 voters, including 98,082 women. Each polling booth had about 1,500 voters. In cases, where there were more than 1,500 voters for a booth, an additional booth would be set up on the same premises. He said nine booths had been relocated for various reasons.

A constable and a homeguard would be deployed in each ordinary booth while a head constable and a constable or a homeguard would be deployed in hypersensitive booths. The district administration wished to deploy as many mobile patrol vehicles to ensure peaceful polling, he said.

The district administration was trying to draft as many Central officials as possible for polling duty to ensure free and fair polls. Steps were being taken to deploy officials from rural areas to keep the polling officials out of political influence.

Mr. Basavaraju said the constituency comprised a large number of voters from minority community, whose womenfolk practised "purdah". Hence, steps would be taken to deploy at least two women polling officials in every booth to help in their identification.

Use of EVMs

The EC had decided to conduct voting through electronic voting machines (EVM) for the May 31 polling. Stating that 500 EVMs would be kept ready for polling, he said technicians would be at hand to repair the EVMs if they malfunctioned. The district administration would hold a publicity campaign to enlighten the voters on the use of EVMs. Awareness on the use of EVMs would be created through newspapers, pamphlets, video cassettes, cable television network, etc.

The Deputy Commissioner pointed out that the Election Code of Conduct barred political parties or candidates from seeking votes on the basis of religion, caste, or language. Mosques, churches, temples or any place of worship should not be used for canvassing, he said.

The EC had imposed restrictions on display of publicity material in public places. The candidates or political parties should not paste posters or display banners on the houses or compounds without permission, and the use of loudspeakers would be limited to between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

With the Election Code of Conduct coming into force, the district administration has taken possession of the official vehicles of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, the President and the Vice-President of the Mysore Zilla Panchayat, the Chairpersons of the Karnataka Exhibition Authority, Command Area Development Authority, and Mysore Lac and Paints.

The government guesthouse, Jaladarshini, and other guesthouses have been taken over by the district administration to prevent their misuse during the election process.

The filing of nominations for the elections will begin on May 6 when the election notification will be issued. The last date for filing nominations is May 13 and scrutiny will be held on May 15. The last date for withdrawal is May 17. Polling will be held between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on May 31. The counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m. on June 2 and the results are likely to be announced the same evening.

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