Raipur/Raigarh/Bemetara: Chhattisgarh Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale on Sunday assured of adequate security arrangements for candidates and at the polling booths during the Lok Sabha elections that will be held in the state in three phases on April 19, 26 and May 7.
For voting in the Naxal-infested Bastar Lok Sabha seat that will be held in the first phase, the Election Commission has made special preparations. Kangale said, "Maximum number of para military forces have been deployed for the elections in the Naxal-affected areas. During the voting in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, tight security arrangements will be made for both the candidates and voters".
During the previous Lok Sabha elections, BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi, who was returning from campaigning, was murdered by Naxalites on April 9, 2019. In view of this, special security arrangements have been made in the upcoming elections.
"PSO will be given to the candidates for their safety and security. After reviewing, additional security will be provided to the candidates. We expect candidates to give information about their programmes three days in advance. They have to inform us about the locations of their meetings ahead of time and the routes through which their rallies would pass. After which, we will be able to plan necessary security arrangements for them," Kangale said.
The total number of voters in Chhattisgarh is 2,05,13,252. Of which, 1,01,80,405 are male voters and 1,03,32,115 are female voters. The number of service voters in the state is 19,905. There are 1,91,638 disabled voters and 732 voters belong to the third gender.
This time, the total number of polling stations in Chhattisgarh is 24229. There are 10 Sangwari polling stations under each Assembly and there will be a total of 900 Sangwari polling stations across the state.
Raigarh District Election Officer Kartikeya Goyal said, "Voting is to be held in Raigarh parliamentary constituency on May 7 and the last date for filing nomination is April 19. There are a total of eight assembly seats in Raigarh parliamentary constituency, including four in Raigarh district. This includes three assembly constituencies of Jashpur district and one assembly constituency of Sarangarh Bilaigarh district. Raigarh parliamentary constituency has 2367 polling stations and the total voters here is 18,29,067. Special arrangements have been made in the district to ensure fair voting. Elaborate security arrangements will be made by identifying sensitive polling stations."
Training process for the polling staff of political parties has already been started in Bemetara district under the direction of District Election Officer Ranveer Sharma. More than 5500 officers and employees of polling parties are being trained in the four blocks of Navagarh, Bemetara, Saja and Berla.
On Sunday, voting related training was given to various officers and employees at Swami Atmanand Hindi Medium School of Bemetara. The specifics of the election were also explained to then.
Bemetara Collector and District Election Officer Ranveer Sharma said, "From today, the training process of polling parties has started in the district. Over 5,500 polling party officials have been deployed in various blocks of the district." There are over 6,64,000 voters in the three assembly constituencies of Bemetara district. Of which, 330123 are female voters and 334142 male. Special preparations and strict security arrangements have been made for the elections in the district.
Read more
