Mapping of vulnerable polling stations suggested in East Godavari

Kakinada: East Godavari Collector Kartikeya Mishra suggested mapping for all the vulnerable polling stations in the district by the concerned AEROs and SHOs jointly in the next two days.

The Collector made this observation while conducting videoconference with the returning officers and the sub divisional police officers of various constituencies along with SP Vishal Gunni from Collectorate on Saturday evening.

The Collector said that in total 4580 polling stations were proposed to establish for the coming general elections under this category and these should be thoroughly verified by them.

In this connection, the Collector said that the Election Commission (EC) has given certain guidelines for mapping of vulnerability of polling stations, which should be followed without any deviation.

Kartikeya Mishra said that the Left-wing extremism areas, politically and group wise rivalry places, politically sensitive, presence of history shelters, communal tensions, poll violence and repolling reported places should be taken into consideration while determining vulnerability.

Polling stations where the poling is more than 90 per cent and where the single candidate secured more than 70 per cent votes should also be taken into consideration while determining vulnerability, the Collector revealed.

The Collector directed the returning officers and sub-divisional police officers to prepare the communication plans for the constituencies and identify the shadow places to take further action.

He said that demo web casting to all the polling stations in the district would begin from Monday to ensure their usage properly.

This exercise will be done with the support of JNTU-K and will continue for 8 to 9 days.

Appointment of sectoral officers with magisterial powers and convening of joint meeting with officials of border states to the district like Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Odisha states were also suggested by Kartikeya Mishra.