The Ganjam District Election Office has sent Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to eighteen local urban bodies in Ganjam district, including the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC) and 17 NACs for the elections scheduled to be held on September 19. The elections will be held in 448 booths.
Each booth will have one EVM machine, while 10 per cent of the additional EVMs will be kept reserved to meet any eventualities. The ballot papers are likely to be dispatched on Friday and would be distributed to all election officers on Saturday, said Additional District Collector (ADM) Dr lingaraj Rath.
While the BMC has received 245 EVM machines, Kabisuryanagar NAC has got 24, followed by Buguda 19, Surada 13, Chikiti four, Bellaguntha 16, Digapahandi 14, Purushottampur 18, Rambha 15, Aska 17, Bhanjanagar 19, Chatrapur 24, Ganjam 16, Polasara 28 and Kodala NAC 16, respectively.
In the meantime, the State Election Officer has reportedly recommended another Observer for Ganjam district, Additional Secretary of RD department Anjan Kumar Manik, who will look after Kodala, Khallikote, and Polasara NAC elections.
Earlier, the EC had recommended three Observers for the Ganjam district and the three NACs were under Observer Hrusikesh Behera. Similarly, three Accounts Observers were appointed by the EC to exclusively monitor the accounts relating to election related expenditure incurred by the candidates.
While Chinmaya Kabi has been entrusted with the BMC and Gopalpur NAC affairs, Ramesh Kumar Patra was entrusted to monitor the accounts of the candidates for Chikiti, Digapahandi, Bhanjanagar, Bellaguntha, Buguda, Surada, Aska and Hinjili NACs. Similarly, Debadutta Tripathy would look after Chatrapur, Ganjam, Rambha, Khallikote, Kodala, Polasara, Kabisuryanagar and Purushottampur NACs, sources said.
Sources revealed that 168 vehicles will be used for effective management of election to the BMC and 17 NACs in the district for which the concerned Election Officers have been paid the required amount which include five heavy vehicles, 57 medium vehicles and 106 light motor vehicles, respectively.
For smooth management of the ensuing elections, 492 presiding officers and 1,478 poling officers have been appointed by the district election authorities. One presiding officer and three poling officers would be deployed in each booth, while 10 per cent of the total presiding and poling officers have been kept under reserve to meet any eventualities, sources said. Similarly, for smooth operationlisation of EVM machines, six EVM experts have been appointed to meet the contingencies.
According to information available, three political activists of Ranipada village under Polasara NAC have reportedly been injured in political clash between two political parties on Thursday night and the victims were admitted in Polasara Health Centre.
On the other hand, the entire BMC area is full of coloured flags, posters, and banners of different political parties and there are lots of political leaders, legislators, and Ministers campaigning for their respective party candidates in Brahampur.The elections seem to be quite different from the earlier ones because there is a triangular contest between BJP, BJD, and Congress in most of the seats.