Ahead of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan held a press conference and informed that the commission has made special arrangements for the differently abled voters by employing the use of voter guide, Braille Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC), dummy Braille EVM and Saksham app. Additionally, a control room has also been set up at the CEO office in the state to monitor all the proceedings of the festival of democracy. Interestingly, no incident of paid news has come before the commission. The electoral officer also informed that after the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the state, 8,80,966 properties have been defecated among which 4,01,091 government, 3,04,047 public and 1,75,828 properties were private .

 

Initiatives have been taken to provide ease to voters at polling booths through posters and spreading necessary information including ‘Know your BLO’ (Block Level Officer ) are among those. To avoid booth capturing, the commission has seized more than 21,000 licensed weapons and 192 flying squad teams (FSTs) and 233 state surveillance teams (SSTs) have also been maintained which will continuously monitor the smooth functioning of the process. He further said that the polling booths will be equipped with all the basic facilities including medical kits, ramp, drinking water facilities, volunteers, help desk and play areas for the toddlers. assistant returning officer of the district.

 

The state CEO said that 1,368 sector magistrates have been deployed at the polling booths and an air ambulance and a helicopter have been deployed at Jabalpur and Balaghat respectively in case of any emergency. The Election Commission has also seized total items worth Rs 120.91 crore in the state which include illicit cash worth Rs 18.46 crore, illegal liquor worth 29.28 crore (19.45 lakh litre), valuables worth 9.96 crore (15,535 kg) and other quantities worth Rs 42.25 crore. Rajan said that 8,059 polling booths will be equipped with the facilities of CCTV cameras and webcasting which will be visible in the control room of the