Other States - Madhya Pradesh   

Electronic voting machines to be used for the first time in Madhya Pradesh

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL NOV. 29. The curtain came down this evening on the final round of campaigning by the political parties and the candidates, who are in the fray for the 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.

The polling on December 1 for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections is specially significant as it would be for the first time that electronic voting machines would be used in every polling booth across the State. The Election Commission has made extensive arrangements for using the electronic voting machines in all the nine administrative divisions in the State that include Chambal, Gwalior, Sagar, Rewa, Jabalpur, Hoshangabad, Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain.

For ensuring free and fair polls in Madhya Pradesh, a special drive had been launched by the State Police to round up anti-social elements and force people to deposit their licensed weapons at various police stations.

In the process, more than 200000 anti-social elements have been booked under different Sections of the IPC. While over 175000 licensed weapons have been deposited at the police stations, more than 2500 illegal weapons have also been seized. The law enforcement authorities have also sealed the border in thirty districts that have a common border with the neighbouring States.

For ensuring security on polling day, the Centre has provided 122 armed companies for deployment in the State. 13000 Home Guards have also reached the State from Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Maharashtra. Besides 120 companies of the Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force and a 50000 strong force comprising the district Police and Home Guards has also been deployed by the State Police on polling duty.

The State authorities have done a special review of the situation in the sensitive Assembly segments of the Gwalior-Chambal region. Of the 3807 polling stations covering 20 Assembly segments in the Gwalior Division, which has a long border with Uttar Pradesh, at least 1000 polling stations have been declared as sensitive.

To ensure absolute objectivity on the part of the polling staff in the Gwalior Division, the Election Commission has put in place a system where at least fifty per cent of the polling staff in every district has been brought from outside.

In the Rewa division, where large-scale irregularities had surfaced in the preparation of the voters' list, the entire polling staff has been changed.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Electronic voting machines to be used for the first time in Madhya Pradesh

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu