Voters will have to sanitise their hands before and after casting their votes in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health officials will sanitise the hands of the voters when they enter the polling booth. After polling, the voters will have to use the sanitisers kept inside the booth.
There will be five polling officials in a booth. When the presiding officer will be in charge of the entire booth and the law and order there, the first polling officer will scrutinise the voter’s identity proof. The second polling officer will mark the voter’s attendance, offer the voter’s slip and apply the indelible ink on the voter’s finger.
The third polling officer will verify the ink on the voter’s finger and activate the electronic voting machine (EVM) for the voter to vote. The fourth official will be an assistant.
None will be permitted to enter the polling booth other than the voters and those with the passes issued by the Election Commission.
District Collector D. Balamurali appealed to the people here on Friday to cooperate with the polling officials to ensure free and fair election. He asked the political parties to issue badges and identity cards to their workers.
The slips issued to the voters should be in white paper and should not carry any symbols or names of candidates. The Election Commission has banned the use of masks with the name or symbol of any political parties within 100 metres of the polling station in municipal limits and within 200 metres of the polling station in panchayats.
Sale of liquor has been banned during 48 hours until the polling ends, and on the day of counting.
Mr. Balamurali said that crowding should be avoided near polling booths, and around the booths set up by the political parties. The camps set up by the candidates should be luxury-free and should not distribute any food items.
