SILCHAR, March 11 - A day after the Election Commission announced the schedule for polling to be held from April 11 to May 19, the Cachar district administration has geared up to conduct the poll in a free and fair manner.
For the Silchar Lok Sabha seat, a total of 1,19,3908 voters, of them 5,76,390 women, will exercise their voting rights on April 18. The process of inclusion of names of new voters in the electoral roll is on and it will continue till the last date of submission of nomination papers by the candidates. There are 1461 polling stations in Silchar. While the number is 172 in urban areas, in rural areas the number of polling stations is 1289.
Deputy Commissioner Laya Madduri on Monday told media persons that based on the data from previous elections, as many as 20 �critical� polling stations have been identified and there would be special focus long with additional security cover in those polling stations during the election process.
�We have identified 20 critical polling stations based on records which suggest polling percentage up to 90 per cent. This meant there might have been unusual trend in those location which is why we are laying extra focus on them,� Madduri maintained. She was quick to assure that since the elections will be held in three phases, there will be sufficient security arrangements to ensure fair and peaceful completion of the democratic process. Also, social media platforms will also be closely monitored, she added.
Interestingly, the Deputy Commissioner who is also the returning officer informed that arrangements are being made to come up with some all-woman polling station, something which was done here during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Further, the Deputy Commissioner categorically urged upon the political parties to strictly adhere to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which is already into force. Moreover, she said the Election Commission of India has come up with mobile applications like the C Vigil and Subidha apps which would help make the election more transparent with the participation of common people in the process. The CVigil app gives the freedom to the people to report problems and malpractices or even violation during the run up to the polls for and even on the date of polling against which due action will be taken after proper enquiry and investigation, she added.
It may be mentioned that 94,858 voters have cast their votes in the mock voting exercise carried out to aware the voters about the actual mannerisms of casting votes.
