CHENNAI: Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said on Saturday that an additional observer would be in place in each of the 36 constituencies identified as sensitive to supervise poll work.

Talking to presspersons here, he said that the general observer and the special observer would divide the constituency so as to be able to reach any spot at short notice on the day of polling.

The 36 constituencies were identified based on, among other parameters, the past law and order record, caste clashes and if any political heavyweights were contesting the seat.

Of the 51,000 polling stations in the State, the Election Commission had identified as many as 3000, as sensitive.

Additional precautionary measures would be taken and two more companies of Central Reserve Police Force would be on duty during the polls taking the number of companies of para-military forces deployed to 198.

In addition to this, home guards, ex-servicemen and retired policemen would also be drafted for poll duty. "The total number of security personnel will be around one lakh," said Mr. Gupta.

The CEO was informed of complaints from government employees on their not getting postal ballots.

He promised to look into the complaints and said that the ballots should either be sent by post or cast only on the box on the Returning Officers' table. Boxes kept elsewhere would not be acceptable for counting, he said.

"Cost a constraint"

Asked about any special arrangements in view of the scorching heat, he said that many polling centres had verandas. He had written to District Election Officers on the issue. Cost was a constraint and thatch roofing could not be used, he added.

The Election Commission has issued notices to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran for alleged violation of the model code of conduct. Ms. Jayalalithaa was alleged to have many vehicles in her campaign convoy, including Government vehicles on May 1 and 2 and Mr. Maran, a complaint said had a large number of vehicles in his convoy during his campaign on May 3, he said.

Mr. Gupta said that he had sent a notice to Jaya TV following a complaint from a Special Observer on the telecast of a programme.

In the notice, he said that he had pointed to provisions in the Representation of People Act and had quoted relevant rules of the Election Commision, he added.

Affidavits of candidates in website The affidavits of contesting candidates can be downloaded from www.elections.tn.nic.in or www.tn.gov.in/elections.

Map locator

A GIS-based polling station map locator, developed in association with www.mapmyindia.com, has been introduced for all Assembly constituencies in Chennai; Tambaram and Alandur in Kancheepuram district and Villivakkam and Tiruvottiyur in Tiruvallur district, said Joint Chief Electoral Officer, Senthil Kumar.

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