15, 00,385 voters, 1715 polling stations in Dakshina Kannada

Addressing a news conference in Mangalore on Tuesday, Mr. Gupta said that after the previous voter list was put out in January earlier this year, 62,140 additions and 23,414 deletions were made. As of now, the total number of registered voters in the district stands at 15,00,385, who will cast their votes in 1715 polling stations including 88 auxiliary booths, he said.

Of these registered voters, 2296 people have their names registered sans photographs. Such voters will be provided with voter slips by the Booth Level Officers (BLO). However, voters concerned are required to produce any other photo identification document (such as passport, driving license etc) to establish their identity in order to receive the voter slips, Mr. Gupta said.

Show cause notice to 7 candidates, 1 TV channel

Speaking on the functioning of the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC), the Deputy Commissioner said that constant scrutiny of poll content being published and telecast in various media is being carried out. The Committee has so far sent show cause notices to 7 candidates and 1 TV channel with regard to suspicious paid news material. Of these, 3 notices have been sent to Congress candidate for Mangalore South constituency, 3 notices to Congress candidate for Bantwal constituency and 1 notice each to a BJP candidate and Congress candidate for Belthangady constituency. A total of 6 complaints have been received by the Committee so far, of which 2 have been forwarded to the Chief Election Officer (CEO).

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have already been tested in the presence of representatives of political parties. A total of 175 additional EVMs have been distributed in different polling stations of the district. On April 26, a re-testing of the machines' working will be carried out in the presence of representatives of political parties and candidates. On the polling day also, a mock polling exercise to check the working of the machines will be carried out. A Sector Officer has been named for every 10 polling stations who will be constantly supervising EVM functioning in his jurisdiction. Sector officers have been trained to set right things in case an EVM encounters any technical glitch. In case of complete machine failure, the Sector Officer has been given the authority to replace the machine and will be provided with spare machines for the same, the Deputy Commissioner said.

Shedding light on the 24x7 election helpline set up by the district administration, Mr. Gupta said that so far 98 complaints have been received on the 1077 helpline from the public.

To ensure security in polling stations, CPMF teams will be deployed in all 1715 polling stations in addition to micro observers, video camera surveillance and webcasting technology. Data is being collected from various quarters to classify 'vulnerable' areas in the district and additional personnel/technology will be deployed there accordingly, Mr. Gupta said.