Kakinada: Eluru collector and district election officer V. Prasanna Venkatesh has advised polling personnel to ensure that voters do not carry their mobile phones to polling booths.
Participating in a training programme for election zonal officers, micro observers, presiding officers, assistant POs and counting staff in Eluru on Thursday, the collector said voters might be tempted to take videos and photos while inside the voting station and would then post these visuals on social media platforms. This was against the election rules, he said.
The collector said security officers in the polling stations should take the cell phones from the voters at the gate itself, and return the same when they exit after the voting. Polling personnel should thoroughly check the voters and their id cards, he said.
Some 1300 ballet papers are getting ready for the elections in the district. Internet and webcasting facilities are being provided in the polling centres, he said.
Joint-collector P. Arun Babu said the contesting candidates and political parties should give details of their polling and counting agents by Friday. Later, the election commission would provide ID cards to them. He requested the political parties to cooperate with the officials for the smooth conduct of the elections.
