All preparations have been made for polling in the elections to the Dharwad Local Authorities Constituency of the State Legislative Council scheduled to take place on Friday.
Speaking to presspersons after reviewing the mustering process on the Dharwad Tahsildar Office premises on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad and Returning Officer Nitesh Patil said that everything has been put in place for polling to be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mr. Patil said that there are 7,501 eligible voters, including 3,844 female and 3,657 male, in the three districts of Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri that come under the constituency. These voters also include two members of Parliament, 17 MLAs, three MLCs and 42 nominated members.
Mr. Nitesh Patil clarified that the newly elected members of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) council, who are yet to be sworn in, are also eligible to vote. It might be recalled that the district administration had written to the Election Commission seeking clarification on the voting rights of the HDMC council members as they have not been sworn in yet. In all, 504 polling stations — 144 in Dharwad district, 130 in Gadag district and 230 in Haveri district — have been set up. The highest voters are in Haveri district with 3,369 voters, followed by Dharwad district with 2,165 voters and Gadag district with 1,967 voters.
Mr. Patil said that provisions have been made for helping the illiterate and physically challenged voters to exercise their franchise by appointing one assistant each for such voters. In all, 407 voters — 207 in Haveri district, 140 in Dharwad and 60 in Gadag — have availed themselves of the facility and the condition is that one assistant can assist a voter only once.
To ensure free and fair polling, micro observers have been appointed to each polling station and the whole process will be videographed. The requisite police security will be provided. This apart, strict instructions have been given to ensure adherence to COVID-19 protocol.
To a query, Mr. Patil said that no cases of model poll code violation have been reported so far. However, a few cases of illegal transportation of liquor have been unearthed by Excise officials and the consignments seized.
Tahsildar of Dharwad Santhosh Biradar and other officials were present.
Meanwhile, election officials reviewed the mustering process in Haveri and Gadag districts on Thursday. The polling officials and personnel left for the respective polling stations after thoroughly verifying the election paraphernalia.
