Polling in Uttarakhand slated for Wednesday, 23 teams comprising presiding officers and polling officers would start leaving for the polling stations located in the far-flung areas of Chakrata Assembly constituency on Sunday while 80 such polling teams would head for the plain areas of the same region on Monday.
In all, 1622 such polling teams would leave for the polling stations situated in the rest of Dehradun district on Tuesday. Informing this while interacting with the media persons on Saturday, Dehradun DM and election officer Ravinath Raman said that the poll preparations were going on in full swing. Dehradun SSP Sweety Aggarwal was also present on the occasion.
Raman said that around 13.80 lakh voters- 7. 33 lakh male voters and 6.46 lakh female- and 43 third gender would exercise their vote in Dehradun district in the election-2017. The numbers of service voters are 9859 which include 6372 male voters and 3487 female voters, he added.
Aggarwal said that the election area in the district has been divided into 35 zones and 214 sectors. 965 polling centres and 1725 polling booths have been set up across the district. Based on sensitivity, a total of 163 vulnerable polling centres and 356 polling stations have been made, she said, adding that 30 flying squad teams and 10 static surveillance teams have been constituted.
Static surveillance teams have been appointed at 14 checking posts while 27.88 lakh unaccounted for cash were seized and two trucks and one car allegedly carrying election materials were impounded too, she informed.
“At police station level, 20 quick response teams have been formed. To check illegal supply of cash, liquor and drugs, 10 inter-state barriers and seven inter-district barriers have been erected. 40 special trouble areas have been identified and additional police forces have been deployed there in adequate strength. Out of 7988, 5912 licensed gun holders have deposited their firearms at police stations concerned,” she said.
She further said that a total of 10 gazatted officers, 31 inspectors, 262 sub-inspectors, 184 head constables, 1986 constables, 2650 home guards, 440 PRD, 247 village chowkidars, 62 Forest guards, three companies and one platoon of PAC and 18 companies and one platoon of CAPF will be deputed at various places to ensure peaceful election.
Raman said that Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is being used for the first time in Dharampur Vidhan Sabha constituency. In all, 196 VVPAT machines will be used for conducting election in Dharmapur and 44 such machines will be kept on reserve. “Web casting will be done at 38 polling stations and at least two polling stations in each constituency. Photography will be held at 23 polling stations,” he said.
The longest distance polling station is located at Birpa Band in Chakrata region, 141 kms away from the district headquarters. Polling parties will have to walk at least 13.5 kms to reach their assigned posts.
Another is the police station set up at Government Primary School Plaid in Doiwala where the polling teams have to walk at least five kilometers. A polling station located at landour is at the altitude of 7000 feet. Another polling station located at Danutha, Chakrata is at the altitude of 6600 feet. One observer has been appointed for each of these three polling centres.