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| 56 air sorties airdropped poll material | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Srinagar, May 12 : As many as 56 air sorties were made to air- lift poll officials, Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and other poll related matter to cut off areas in Baramulla and Ladakh Lok Sabha constituencies, going to polls tomorrow.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Jammu and Kashmir, B R Sharma today said that all arrangements have been put in place for free, fair and peaceful polls in these constituencies.
He said lifting poll parties to far-flung and remote areas was the most challenging job in this phase.
Sharma said nearly 56 sorties have been made to position poll parties and election-related material at the polling station set up in cut off areas.
He said that for 97 polling stations in far-flung areas of Gurez, Karnah, Keran, Macchil, Zanskar and Nobra, men and material have been despatched by using MI 17 and Cheetah choppers.
He said some sorties to Gurez and Zanskar had to be made since the road to these two areas is still closed due to heavy snow.
For the last 5 days, 4 MI 17, 5 Cheetah helicopters besides State-owned chopper have been pressed into service.
He said foolproof security arrangements have been made and all polling stations have been assessed in terms of vulnerability, criticality and threat perception.
As many as 1,944 polling stations with an equal number of EVMs have been set up to facilitate voters.
He said as per Election Commission directions, additional EVMs have been sent to remote polling stations along with poll parties in case EVMs malfunction.
Sharma said besides 5 Election Observers, about 273 Micro Observers have been deployed and 54 video and digital cameras installed which will record critical developments to ensure polling is held in a fair and transparent manner.
The CEO said that over 100 Zonal and Sectoral officers have been deployed to monitor poll process.
These officers have been assigned responsibilities for monitoring mock poll and day-long polling process at polling stations and they will submit their reports after polling concludes, the CEO said, adding that 8,000 poll personnel have been deployed at all the polling stations for election duty.
In order to take prompt remedial action on complaints, Mr Sharma said that a detailed Communication Plan has been operationalized.
He said some polling stations have been set up at difficult terrain and polling staff have to walk long distances to reach their destination.
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