As Ranchi is going to municipal polls on Monday, the district and electoral officials were on their toes to ensure that “man & material” reaches the polling stations by the evening of April 7. As many as 731458 voters will decide the fate of 502 ward and 14 mayoral candidates between 7 AM to 3 PM.
According to sources, every polling station in each ward will have two pieces of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with the exception of ward 28 and 34. Owing to large number of electorates in these wards polling stations in these wards will have three EVMs. There will be separate EVMs for casting votes for ward and mayoral candidates. A total of 1830 polling stations have been established for elections in Ranchi.
Officials entrusted with poll duty started flocking at Birsa Munda Football stadium in Morhabadi for procuring election materials before being taken to their respective polling stations in different areas of Ranchi in special vehicles. As many as 550 vehicles are being used for the purpose of transporting 9150 election officials.
Every bag of election materials contained 1 voters list, 1400 voters slip, a list of candidates contesting from the ward, 2 pieces of list of blind and physically challenged voters & 4 pieces of list containing names of person assisting them in the voting apart from materials to be used to seal the EVMs.
Amid the pandemonium at the stadium, the situation took an ugly turn for a brief moment when several officials started grabbing papers used to cover the EVM. However, the situation was brought under control by the district administration officials. “I don’t know what to do in this situation,” said few officials who could not manage to grab even a single piece of paper.