With the Election Commission of India announcing the dates for Lok Sabha elections and also byelections to some Assembly constituencies, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force in Yadgir district. And, the district administration is all set for conducting fair, free, proper and peaceful elections.
The byelections to the Shorapur Assembly constituency in the district will also be held along with the Lok Sabha elections on May 7.
Yadgir district, which has four Assembly segments in Gurmitkal, Yadgir, Shahapur and Shorapur, is part of two Lok Sabha constituencies. Gurmitkal falls under Gulbarga (SC) Lok Sabha constituency, while Yadgir, Shahapur and Shorapur come under Raichur (ST) Lok Sabha constituency, Deputy Commissioner B. Susheela has said.
Addressing a press conference in Yadgir on Sunday, Dr. Susheela said that Kalaburagi and Raichur Lok Sabha constituencies will go to the polls on May 7. And, preparations to hold peaceful, transparent and smooth elections are under way.
She added that the bypolls for Shorapur Assembly constituency will also be held along with the Lok Sabha polls on May 7, with the bypolls having been necessitated after the demise of MLA Raja Vankatappa Naik.
“Immediately after the declaration of the elections for the Lok Sabha, the Model Code of Conduct came into force on Saturday itself and it will end on June 6. We will give all instructions to officers on election duty to ensure effective implementation of the code in the district,” she said.
With four Assembly segments, a total of 1,134 polling stations have been established in the district. Out of 1,134 polling stations, 201 have been identified as critical and the remaining are normal.
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras will be installed in all critical polling stations to prevent any malpractice.
Out of the 1,134 polling stations, 203 are in urban areas, while 931 are in rural areas.
There are 284 polling stations (17 in urban and 267 in rural) in Gurmitkal, 268 polling stations (60 in urban and 208 in rural) in Yadgir, 265 polling stations (46 in urban and 219 in rural) in Shahapur and there are 317 polling stations (80 in urban and 237 in rural) in Shorapur, the Deputy Commissioner said.
The district has a total of 10,26,778 voters. Of these, 5,12,572 are male voters, 5,14,137 female and 69 transgender voters. Constituency-wise, Gurmitkal has 1,26,062 male, 1,27,605 female and six transgender voters, Yadgir 1,22,369 male, 1,23,864 female and 20 transgender voters, Shahapur 1,22,523 male, 1,22,939 female and 15 transgender voters and Shorapur has 1,41,618 male voters, 1,39,729 female voters and 28 transgender voters.
Bypolls
As per instructions from the Election Commission, the notification for the byelections will be published on April 12. The last date for filing nomination papers is April 19 and scrutiny of nomination papers will be on April 20. The last date for withdrawing nomination papers is April 22, while counting will be taken up in the district headquarters on June 4, the Deputy Commissioner said.
To ensure the proper implementation of the Model Code of Conduct in the district, teams of officials have been formed. As many as 82 cluster officers, followed by 43 FST teams, 54 SST teams, four VVT teams, 19 VST teams, five accounting teams and 16 nodal officers have been appointed.
Voting from home
The Election Commission has allowed senior citizens who are over 85 years and those with disabilities who have more than 40% disabilities to vote from home. All necessary arrangements will be made for this purpose.
The general public can raise complaints related to the violation of the Model Code of Conduct through the C-Vigil app which can be downloaded from PlayStore on mobile handsets. Voters can verify the registration number on the voter helpline website.
The district administration has established a total of 16 check-posts, including three inter-state check-posts, across the district, to prevent electoral malpractice and also to check vehicles.
These check-posts have been established in these villages on the main roads that connect the district to other places: Bandolli (on Bidar-Bengaluru main road), Narayanpur (on Narayanpur-Muddebihal road), Hagaratagi (Kodekal-Talikote road), Malanur (Hunsagi-Talikote road), Mudbul, Malla (B), Tallalli (B), Ganganagar (on Hattikuni-Yadgir road), Kollur (M), Kadarapur, Hurasagundagi bridge, Gunj Circle (on Yadgir-Hyderabad main road) and Yargol.
The interstate check-posts are as follows: Putpak, Kuntimari and Kadechur, as these villages share a border with Telangana.
The general public can carry money up to ₹50,000 without having any documents. But they should keep valid documents to carry cash above ₹50,000. The officers concerned will inform the Income Tax Department if anyone is found carrying ₹10 lakh and above, even having valid documents.
Theme-based
As many as 36 theme-based polling stations will be established in the district. Of these, 20 will be women-managed pink polling stations, followed by four each model polling stations, young voters polling stations, persons with disabilities polling stations and traditional polling stations.
There are a total of 659 licensed guns in the district and the department has instructed their owners to surrender arms with immediate effect. Superintendent of Police G. Sangeetha has said that strict legal action will be taken against those who break the law and create trouble.
She also said that CRPF personnel will carry out a route march to build confidence among the public.
Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat Garima Panwar and Additional Deputy Commissioner Sharanabasappa Koteppagol were present.
