Rangareddy: As Telangana is bracing for gram panchayat elections anytime this year, the officials from Election Commission are on their toes to ensure safety of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) stored at designated places, especially in Rangareddy district.
The State Deputy Chief Electoral Officer B Hari Singh along with other senior district level officials have visited EVM strong room located at MRO office Rajendranagar on Tuesday and took stock of the arrangements.
Accompanied by Additional District Collector Pratima Singh, the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Hari Singh interacted with the officials deployed at the storeroom and inquired about the electronic voting machines available at the facility and the measures being taken to ensure the safety of the ballot machines. The Deputy Chief Electoral Officer advised the officials at the helm of affairs to take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety and security of the EVMs stored at the facility. Following inspection, the election official sealed the storeroom in the presence of the representatives from different political parties. RDO Rajendranagar Venkatreddy, storeroom in-charge B Ramulu and other officials were present at the occasion.
The visit of Deputy Chief Electoral Officer comes a day after the State Chief Electoral Officer C Sudarshan Reddy held a review meeting with the collectors through video conference. During the meeting, Sudarshan Reddy suggested the officials to issue identification cards to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and complete the process before June 25.
The CEO also instructed the officials to establish new polling stations where the number of voters has crossed the mark of 1,200 in the constituencies. “Earlier, the number of 1,500 voters was taken into account for the setting up of a new polling station. Now, steps are being taken to establish new polling stations even for below 1,200 voters. For this, a list of newly identified polling stations should be sent to the Collectors by June 25,” said the CEO.
Besides, he said, new booth level officers should be appointed wherever it is found necessary. They should be locals and if nobody is found, the Anganwadi workers should be roped-in, he added.
