212 poll booths sensitive

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 22

No nomination was filed on the first day of the issuance of a notification for the elections to the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat today.

Mandeep Singh Brar, Deputy Commissioner-cum-returning officer, UT, said there were 597 polling booths and 191 polling stations in the city. As per the current assessment, only 212 polling booths had been found sensitive. The UT has sought five additional companies of security men from the Centre to be appointed at the sensitive booths. The counting centre has been set up at the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, Sector 26, Chandigarh.

As on date, there are 6,37,990 voters in Chandigarh, of whom 3,37,417 are male, 3,00,553 female and 20 "others". There are 16,215 voters in the age group of 18-19, of whom 9,307 are male and 6,908 female.

He said 19 AROs and 60 sector officers had been appointed. For the first time, voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines are being used at polling booths.

Nilambari Jagdale, SSP, said the police had seized material worth over Rs 40 lakh after the implementation of the poll code.

Training test must for staff on duty

Around 3,000 personnel  appointed for poll duty are taking their training seriously. They will have to pass a written test at the  end of the training. In case an  employee fails, he will have to attend the training again.