Lok Sabha polls | Polling machinery reaches remote villages in the Nilgiris

Election booth officers crossing the Moyar river to Thengumaradha and Kalampalayam villages that is part of the Nilgiris district for which they have to cross Coimbatore and Erode districts. | Photo Credit: M. SATHYAMOORTHY

The Nilgiris District Collector and Returning Officer for the Nilgiris Parliamentary constituency M. Aruna inspected the dispatch of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and polling materials from the Breeks Memorial Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Udhagamandalam on Thursday.

Ms. Aruna told reporters there were a total of 1,619 polling booths in the six Assembly segments that comprise the Nilgiris Parliamentary constituency. Of the six, three were in the Nilgiris (Coonoor, Udhagamandalam and Gudalur), while three other Assembly segments were in Erode (Bhavanisagar), Tiruppur (Avinashi) and Coimbatore (Mettupalayam) districts.

In the Nilgiris district, 106 of the 689 polling booths are considered “vulnerable” and will have election observers as well as videographers in the booths.

A total of 178 zonal teams have been tasked with transporting the machines to the polling booths, some of which are as far as Thengumarahada, which can only be reached via Mettupalayam and Bhavanisagar and after crossing the Moyar River.

A total of 3,371 officials would be on duty during the elections in the constituency on Friday, the district administration said. The help of the Forest Department was also used to transport the polling machinery to small villages located near and within forested areas in the district.

Special arrangements had also been made to transport voters to polling booths for villages located in these forested areas, officials said. Arrangements had also been made to ensure that polling booths were accessible for people with disabilities and for the elderly.