The district administration is fully prepared for the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, District Collector Geromic George, who is the district election officer, has said.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the electoral process in the two Lok Sabha constituencies in the district.
Fourteen assistant returning officers and two designate assistant returning officers are on duty in the 14 Assembly constituencies under the District Collector, who is the returning officer for the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, and Additional District Magistrate Premji C., who is the returning officer for Attingal.
Twenty-eight nodal officers too have been appointed to handle aspects such as manpower management, electronic voting machine (EVM) management, and postal ballot in connection with the polls.
There are 2,730 booths in the district. Of these, 1,370 are in Thiruvananthapuram and 1,423 in the Attingal constituency. Arrangements have been completed in all polling stations under the supervision of the electoral officers. In booths without toilets, bio-toilets have been ensured. Internet has been ensured in four polling booths that lacked network connectivity.
Forty-two model polling stations have been arranged in the district. There are 14 women polling stations, 14 youth stations, and 28 ‘green’ polling stations.
Route map showing connectivity to polling stations and route officers on these routes have also been arranged.
There are 134 vulnerable and critical booths in the district under the supervision of sectoral officers. Webcasting and special police cover have been arranged to ensure security in these booths.
Trainings were held under the leadership of the Huzur Sheristadar at the Collectorate to ensure efficiency of polling officials.
Polling officials on election duty and other officials working in connection with the polls were given training by six State-level master trainers, 12 district-level master trainers, and 70 Assembly-level trainers.
As many as 3,831 presiding officers; 3,831 first polling officers; and 7,662 polling officers have been deployed for polling duty through the order software.
As many as 20% control units and ballot units and 30% VVPAT machines are in reserve. After two phases of randomisation, the machines were handed over to assistant returning officers. EVMs for which commissioning has been completed have been stored in the strongroom.
Arrangements have been made for voters above the 85 and the differently abled who prefer to go to the booths to vote to cast their votes and return.
