Polling at 3TP’s in Kodagu today

• 143 candidates
• Prohibitory Order

Madikeri: Elections will be held at three urban local bodies (ULB) in Kodagu district on Sunday. The district administration has initiated all measures to conduct peaceful elections at Somwarpet, Kushalnagar and Virajpet Town Panchayats (TP) from mornining 7 am to 5 pm in the evening.

Altogether, there will be 11 polling booths in Somwarpet, 16 in Kushalnagar and 18 in Virajpet. All polling staffs have already left for their respective polling booths on Saturday afternoon.

143 candidates

A total of 143 candidates from various political parties including the BJP, Congress, JD(S) and independents will be contesting in the elections.

In Kushalnagar, 64 candidates will contesting the election of which 16 each are from the Congress, the BJP and the JD(S), 2 from SDPI and 14 are independent candidates.

26 candidates will be trying their luck in Somvarpet. The Congress and JD(S) have enetered into a alliance here and hence, Congress has fielded 6 candidates while the JD(S) has 5 candidates. The BJP is contesting for all the 11 wards while 4 independent candidates are also fighting it out here.

53 candidates are contesting the elections in Virajpet. The Congress has fielded 14 candidates; the JD(S) has 4 candidates, BJP 18, NCP 1, SDPI 1 and 14 independent candidates.

Altogether, there are 30,786 voters in the three ULBs. Somvarpet has 5,261 voters, Kushalnagar has 11,599 and Virajpet has 13,923 voters.

Police presence

To conduct a incident free election, the police have strengthened security ahead of the election. Of the 45 polling booths, 10 have been deemed as sensitive, 7 hypersensitive and 28 as general polling booths.

EVMs are being used in the election and the voters have NOTA facility.

22 alternative documents for EPIC

The Election Commission has stated that those who are unable to produce their Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) can produce any of the 22 alternative documents to cast their votes. The alternative documents for EPIC include passport, driving license, PAN card, service identity cards with photograph given to employees by Central and state government public sector undertakings or public limited companies, and passbooks with photographs given by banks and post office.

Prohibitory Order

The deputy commissioner and district election officer P I Sreevidya has clamped a prohibitory order within 200-meter radius of the polling booths in the Virajpet, Kushalnagar and Somvarpet Town Panchayats. There is also a ban on the use of loud speakers, parking or private vehicles, wooing of voters and engaging in campaign near the polling booths.