EC to ‘more than double’ security at Bangalore Rural constituency where DK Suresh takes on CN Manjunath
Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena said that voting in all 2,829 polling stations in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency will be webcast on April 26.
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Congress candidate D K Suresh, the brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar (left) and BJP’s Dr C N Manjunath, the son-in-law of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda (right)In the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 26, security will be beefed up at the Bangalore Rural constituency where Congress candidate D K Suresh, the brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will take on BJP’s Dr C N Manjunath, the son-in-law of JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda.
Bangalore Rural was the only constituency the Congress had won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena said that voting in all the 2,829 polling stations in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency will be webcast. A total of seven companies of several paramilitary forces, which is “more than double” what was deputed last time, will be posted in the polling booths of the constituency, he added.
Increasing security arrangements in the constituency was as per the assessment of the returning officer (RO) and polling officers, Meena said. “We do our own assessment (of the constituency) as there is a police observer there, a general observer and an RO. Any candidate or agent can give their worry list about sensitive polling booths. We will verify and decide based on the worry list and our assessment,” Meena said.
Such elaborate security measures “we are not taking in any other Parliamentary constituency”, he said.
As many as 2.88 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations located in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka on April 26. The Election Commission has deputed 1.4 lakh polling officials, 50,000 civil police personnel and 65 companies of central paramilitary and armed police of other states.
Polling in 19,701 booths will be covered by webcasting, while 1,370 polling stations will have CCTVs installed, Meena said.
Before polling, the Election Commission has booked a total of 189 major cases of Model Code of Conduct violations, according to Meena. Of these, 23 were related to hate speech – 12 against BJP or its candidates, nine against Congress and two against JD(S); 28 cases of inducement – eight against BJP, nine against Congress, three against JD(S) and eight against Independent candidates; 15 cases of misuse of religious places – eight against BJP, six against Congress and one against an Independent candidate; and 15 cases of use of children for canvassing – seven each against BJP and Congress and one against an Independent.
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