The arrangements for the 18th Lok Sabha elections in the district were completed on April 23 (Tuesday) and 33.94 lakh voters are expected to exercise their franchise in 16 Assembly segments in the district on Friday. District Collector V.R. Vinod said that there were 16.97 lakh female voters and as many male voters. As many as 43 voters were transgender.
Mr. Vinod said that 82,286 of the voters were first-timers. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Both Ponnani and Malappuram constituencies have eight candidates each.
There are 2,798 polling booths in the district, including 23 auxiliary booths, spread across Ponnani, Malappuram and Wayanad constituencies. There are 80 model polling booths, and 80 all-woman polling booths. There will be two polling booths exclusively manned by differently abled persons.
As many as 13,430 polling officials will be on duty. As many as 288 sector officers and 62 micro observers will be on duty for smooth conduct of the elections at lower level.
As many as 3,324 electronic voting machines (EVM), including those in reserve, will be in use. Mr. Vinod said that if EVMs are stuck during the polling process, they would be replaced immediately. Webcasting will be arranged in all booths.
A control room will be set up at the Collectorate to address polling related issues.
As many as 1,400 vehicles were arranged for poll duty. The distribution of voting machines and other polling material will take place at 14 centres on Thursday morning. Polling officials have to return the machines to those centres after the polling. Voting machines will be shifted to a strong room on the Friday night.
There will be three counting centres in Malappuram district. The votes of Malappuram constituency will be counted at Government College, Malappuram; the votes of Ponnani at SSM Polytechnic College, Tirur; and the votes of Nilambur, Wandoor and Eranad Assembly segments belonging to Wayanad constituency at Mar Thoma College, Chungathara.
District Police Chief S. Sasidharan said that 6,600 security personnel would be on duty for the polls in Malappuram. The services of retired soldiers, retired police personnel, NCC cadets, NSS volunteers and SPC cadets will be sought.
There will be security cover of Central police force for 28 sensitive booths. There will be enhanced police vigil across the district on the polling day, he said.
