Deccan Chronicle 04.11.2009

1,533 booths declared sensitive

Hyderabad
Nov. 3: More than one-fourth of the total 5,663 polling stations in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have been categorised critical and sensitive.

Polling in these booths during the forthcoming civic body polls will be conducted under strict police surveillance and supervision of additional micro-observers drawn from the Central government.

Even the areas where these polling stations are located will be provided with additional police forces, surveillance videography and other security measures to ensure free and fair polling.

As many as 1,533 polling stations spread in various parts of the old city, new city and surrounding municipalities have been identified as sensitive. The GHMC, the police and the election authorities together identified these polling stations based on past incidents and their proclivity to trouble.

“The sensitivity analysis is based on several layers of information that has been correlated, integrated and analysed. More focus and attention on deployment of special forces is being directed at these polling booths,” the GHMC commissioner, Mr S.P. Singh, said.

The names and the specific number allotted to sensitive polling booths and the municipal wards under which they fall are not being divulged for security reasons.

The police will also wait and see whether candidates on their suspect list will enter the electoral fray or throw their weight behind any other candidate.

Depending upon these calculations and final list of contesting candidates, another round of exercise on sensitive polling booths will be taken up for preparation of the final list of hyper-sensitive polling stations.

In all, there are 18 municipal circles spread over 625 sq km in GHMC limits having 150 wards.

As on date, there are no sensitive polling booths in circle-2, 12 and 16, according to officials.

The Hindu 04.11.2009

GHMC polls: voter list on website

HYDERABAD: With the final master voter list coming out on November10, the GHMC is making arrangements to enable voters to check out for their names in the list and also the polling station where they should exercise their franchise for the civic poll slated to be held on November 23.

Voters can log on to ghmc.gov.in and refer to the ward concerned, number of elector photo identity card or the name of the Assembly constituency to get information of the polling station.

Call centre

A call centre with phone number 155304 is also being set up from November 12 onwards to answer voters’ queries, said Commissioner S.P. Singh on Tuesday.

At a press conference he addressed with Special Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu and Additional Commissioner (Elections) T. Muralidhar, Mr. Singh also explained that 2.47 lakh fresh names have been accepted for inclusion into the voters’ list since June 10, 2009 when the list was last published with 54.47 lakh voters.

Since then, till October 28 when the poll notification was issued, about 2.76 lakh applications were received of which 28,877 were rejected.

However, new voters’ names will appear only when the final voter list is released on November 10 and there will be no chance of further additions or deletions as the process has been frozen.

Allays fears

Mr. Krishna Babu allayed fears of genuine voters’ names missing from the final list pointing out that names have been deleted only after due process of intimating the voter concerned.

“We have spent Rs. 7 on each voter for issuing letters under certificate of posting if the name was being deleted,” he said.

Around 14,000 voters names duplicated have been unearthed and cleaned out. Respective elector registration officers are involved in generation of Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) and sending them through certificate of posting to the voter concerned.

Photo documents

Those wishing to obtain EPIC can produce any of the 20 photo documents recognised by the Election Commission of India like drivers licence, ration card, pan card, passport, etc.,

The same can be got at designated eSeva centres on payment of Rs. 10.

Mr. Singh made it clear that EPIC was only a means of identification and name of voter has to be in the elector list to be eligible for vote.

“During the general elections, we have had instances of people having EPICs issued in 2003 but without their names in the list being denied a chance to vote,” he pointed out.