All arrangements in place as Nilambur goes to poll on June 19
MALAPPURAM
About 2 lakh voters are expected to reach polling booths on Thursday to choose their representative in the Nilambur Assembly byelection. As many as 263 polling stations have been set for a total voter population of 2.32 lakh.
Poll equipment was distributed from Mar Thoma Higher Secondary School, Chungathara, on Wednesday. After a mock poll at 5.30 a.m., polling will start at 7 a.m. and continue till 6 p.m. Voters reaching the polling stations before 6 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
A total of 315 voting machines and 341 VVPATs, including reserves, will be used for polling. As many 1,301 trained polling officials will be on duty. Among them will be 316 presiding officers, 975 polling staff and 10 micro-observers.
Tight security arrangements have been made at 14 critical booths, including three booths located in the forest. The booths in the forest are at Punchakkolli, Vaniyampuzha and Nedumkayam.
Election Commission has arranged webcasting of the polling in all stations. Although Nilambur has 3,672 voters eligible for home voting, only 1,254 of them exercised this concession. They voted from their homes between June 9 and 16. Among them were 938 voters above age 85 and 316 differently abled persons.
Ten candidates are in the fray, including the frontrunners Aryadan Shoukath of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and M. Swaraj of the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The other contestants are BJP's Mohan George, SDPI's Sadik Naduthodi, Independents like P.V. Anvar, N. Jayarajan, P. Radhakrishnan Namboothiripad, Vijayan, Satheesh Kumar G., and Harinarayanan.
With 7,787 new voters getting eligibility, Nilambur has 1.136 lakh men voters and 1.187 women voters. There are eight transgender voters as well.
As many as 1,200 security personnel, including State and Central forces, have been deployed. Nilambur DySP will be in charge of Nilambur and Pookkottumpadam police stations and another DySP will be in charge of Edakkara, Vazhikkadavu and Pothukal police stations.
There will be 17 patrolling groups to monitor the 263 polling booths, with each group headed by a sub-inspector. There will be two law and order patrolling teams for each police station headed by a sub-inspector. Besides, there will be separate quick response teams (QRTs) comprising a sub-inspector and four police officers.
Central security forces are posted in areas where Maoist presence had been reported. One company of Armed Police Battalion is on election duty in Nilambur. One platoon Central Armed Police Force will provide security to the strongroom at Mar Thoma Higher Secondary School, Chungathara.
A district election control room has been set up at the Collectorate. It can be reached at 0483 2734990. A call centre set up at Government Rest House, Nilambur, can be reached at 048931 220039.
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