To ensure there is no room for poll-related malpractices, the Election Commission will take up webcasting of the Lok Sabha elections in all polling booths of Bengaluru Rural and Mysuru Parliamentary constituencies on April 26.
Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer for Karnataka, said the webcasting is being done on the basis of an assessment made by the Returning Officers (ROs) and observers of the constituency in consultation with the police.
“Seven companies of Central paramilitary forces will be deployed in the 2,829 polling booths of Bengaluru Rural. Besides, webcasting will be taken up in 2,925 booths in Mysuru and 546 booths in Kodagu,” he said.
EC guidelines
Venkatesh Kumar R., Additional Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Karnataka, said EC guidelines mandate that webcasting should be done in at least 50% of all polling booths. “Overall, webcasting is being done in 19,701 polling booths. Besides, CCTV cameras will be installed in 1,370 booths,” he said.
“The camera will transmit the images on real-time basis to our web servers. Simultaneously, the proceedings will also be recorded. This will begin right from mock polls till the EVMs are packed and dispatched to the de-mustering centres and strong rooms,” Mr. Kumar explained.
Electoral battle
Bengaluru Rural constituency has D.K. Suresh, brother of Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, pitted against cardiologist C.N. Manjunath contesting on a BJP ticket. In Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency, the battle is between scion of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, who is the BJP candidate, and M. Lakshman from the Congress.
