VIJAYAWADA: For all those who have shown enthusiasm and enrolled their names in the graduates' or teachers' constituency of the soon-to-be-revived Legislative Council, the real ordeal seems to begin only now.

As the election process will begin on Thursday with the issuing of a notification by the Election Commission, the authorities have finalised the polling booths for the constituencies of graduates, teachers and local bodies.

For the 92,454 graduate voters of Krishna district, the authorities have earmarked 123 polling stations, with the objective of arranging one for 750 voters each. For 6,183 teachers who have registered their names, 51 polling stations have been arranged.

Vijayawada Sub-Collector Ch. Bhanu Prasad said the number of polling stations, especially for graduates, would go up, as it was found that some booths have more number of voters than the stipulated average. "Some booths have voters up to 1,500. We have sent proposals for bifurcation of such booths," he said. The new booths will be finalised by next week.

Within the city, schools and colleges, which can be easily identified in prominent areas like Patamata, Labbipeta, Moghalrajpuram, Gunadala, Singh Nagar, Satyanarayanapuram, Gandhinagar, Governorpet, Krishnalanka, One Town and Vidyadharapuram, will be used to set up the polling stations.

The problem

But this is where the problem begins: How does one find the polling booth where he or she has to vote? Clearly, there is no easy method. One will have to go to the official website of the Chief Electoral Officer, Andhra Pradesh (http://ceoandhra.nic.in/council), where a list of voters assigned to each polling station is available.

If a person who lives in any of the colonies in the vicinity of Patamata has enrolled himself as a graduate voter, he can hope to find his name in the list of voters assigned to any of the six polling stations set up at Koneru Basavaiah Chowdary Zilla Parishad High School. The search may still prove elusive, for his vote may have been assigned to a polling station in Labbipet, Gunadala or Moghalrajapuram.

Officials admit that it is not easy for a graduate voter to locate his or her polling station, as there is no system of sending any intimation. In the case of a general election, it is easy to locate a polling station, for these are usually very nearer to one's residence and also fixed ones over the years.

An official involved in the council's election process said going by the aggressive campaigning by candidates who are seeking to enter the fray from the graduates' constituency, voters can surely relax and wait for them to come to their doorsteps with information about polling booths.

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