OOTY: As many as 121 polling stations in Nilgiris (SC) constituency have been identified as sensitive and security arrangements have also been beefed up in the hills ahead of polling. Pre-poll day on Wednesday proved to be a silent one in the hills here with officials busy in dispatching EVMs to the polling stations across the hills with the movement of vehicles loaded with policemen bearing the notice "Election-Urgent." While police intensified security arrangements in the border areas and along the jungle hamlets which have been identified as Maoist-sensitive areas, in general, security arrangements were intensified with the arrival of the central security forces.
Stating that all the arrangements have been made for peaceful polls on Thursday, Ms.J. Innocent Divya, collector of Nilgiris and returning officer of the Nilgiris constituency, stated in a release that there are 13,65, 608 voters in the entire constituency that includes 6,65,373 men, 7,00, 202 women and 69 third genders.
While 1,610 polling stations have been established in the constituency, 121 have been identified as sensitive ones. In these polling stations 106 micro-observers will be pressed into duty along with regular polling station staff. In 656 polling stations across the constituency, polling will be monitored through web-streaming, she added."In total, 7786 staff will be on poll duty. 564 wheel chairs will be used across the constituency to help differently-abled voters. 1674 volunteers will help out diff-abled voters” , collector added.
