High-decibel sound, public meetings, road shows, street meetings and all other modes for election propaganda in the public came to an end in Sambalpur district on Tuesday evening as the administration further geared up for polling on Thursday.
With this, election warmth almost cooled down in spite of the fact that mercury is not in a mood to come down from 40 degrees Celsius.Even if the official electioneering was over, there is crucial 36 hours ahead. The political parties will put their last-minute efforts to appease the voters silently using other means.
And many voters also wait for these important hours despite the fact that the police, election observers and even intelligence wings are keeping close watch on the situation.Many precautions have been taken by the administration to prevent unfair means in the poll process. But it may not be possible all the time to nab vote purchasers because of the vast area and the limited manpower.
The election expenditure, as fixed by the Election Commission of India, is at Rs28 lakh for the Assembly candidates and Rs70 lakh for the Parliament candidates.But rumours are that candidates are spending in crores. And it is the middlemen who are more benefitted than the voters.
The district administration is all set to conduct the elections peacefully, as stated by the District Election Officer (DEO) and Returning Officers (ROs).“We have given more attention on the model code of conduct. Control rooms at the district and sub-divisional levels are operating.
The contact numbers of the Election Observers are given to public to inform their grievances, if any, both to the election officers and the Election Observers. But we have not got any major complain so far,” said District Election Officer-cum-Collector Balwant Singh.“Since some pockets of the district are Maoist-hit, we are also totally vigilant on the state of affairs there,” he said further.