Manjeshwaram bypoll: Webcasting in 20 polling booths

KANNUR: In order to prevent any kind of malpractices during the polling at Manjeshwaram assembly constituency in Kasaragod district , where the bypoll would be held on October 21, along with four other constituencies in the state, the authorities have decided to have live webcasting in 20 polling booths. Along with this armed forces would be deployed in 49 booths, said district collector D Sajith Babu who is also the district election officer.

Further, the use of cellphone within 100 metres of the polling stations would be banned, and the cellphones brought to the polling stations would be confiscated, he said in a meeting of the representatives of various political parties in Kasaragod on Monday.

The collector, who reiterated that all efforts would be made to prevent bogus voting, said that the webcasting would be held in the constituencies that are within three kilometres of Karnataka border.

Training to polling agents

Meanwhile, the polling agents on duty at Manjeshwaram would be given training on October 18. The training is aimed at providing awareness to the agents regarding mock poll , test poll and other procedures to ensure the polling is fair and transparent, said the district collector, who added that such a training is provided to the officials for the first time in the state. The training would include 45 minute of class followed by 15 minutes of interaction to clear the doubts. Then they would he shown the electronic voting machine to help them familiarise with it.

The training would be provided in eight centres and the training for the officials who have been assigned the duty of training the agents would be held on October 16.