Mysuru: With Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha Constituency going to the polls along with 13 others in the first phase of polling (second phase in country) in the State tomorrow, the mustering was held at four centres for four Assembly segments of the city and at four other respective centres for two Assembly segments in the district and two Assembly segments in Kodagu district.

The Mysuru-Kodagu LS Constituency has eight Assembly segments — Madikeri, Virajpet, Periyapatna, Hunsur, Chamundeshwari, Krishnaraja (KR), Narasimharaja (NR) and Chamaraja — with the last four segments located in city limits.

The mustering for poll staff of Chamaraja Assembly segment was held at Baden Powell Public School behind the DC Office; for K.R Assembly segment at Maharaja’s College Centenary Hall; for N.R. segment at JSS College on Ooty Road and for Chamundeshwari segment at Maharani’s Arts College for Women on JLB Road in city, while for Madikeri Assembly segment at St. Joseph’s Convent, Madikeri; for Virajpet segment at Government Junior College, Virajpet town in Kodagu district; for Periyapatna segment at Pushpa Convent, Periyapatna Town and for Hunsur segment at Devaraj Urs First Grade College, Hunsur Town in Mysuru district.

The mustering began with Polling Officers of different designations and other poll staff arriving at their respective centres at 7 am. Soon after their arrival, all the staff were required to sign the register as proof of their attendance for poll duty.

A total of 9,624 poll officers, including 2,406 Presiding Officers, 2,406 Assistant Presiding Officers and 4,812 Polling Officers (including Reserves) have been deployed for poll duty in Mysuru-Kodagu LS seat.

The mustering was held under the supervision of Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) under tight Police security.

There are a total of 2,187 polling booths in the Constituency  for which 5,084 ballot units, 2,671 control units and 2,717 VVPATs will be used.

The poll officials, after signing the register, were required to take their designated EVMs and all other poll materials and stationeries, which included indelible ink vials, paper rolls, etc., and board the KSRTC bus assigned to the booths. The District administration has engaged 406 KSRTC buses for poll logistics.

All the poll staff are expected to reach their designated polling booths this afternoon and begin preparations for tomorrow’s voting.

Before the commencement of the polling at 7 am tomorrow, the officials will check the EVMs for their functioning. In case of any glitches, the poll staff are required to report the same immediately to the higher authorities.

Even as the poll staff reported for mustering this morning, the District Administration has warned that action will be taken against such staff who abstain from poll duty without genuine reasons.

22 Sakhi Booths

Out of the 2,187 polling booths there are 22 ‘Sakhi’ booths spread across the Constituency — 12 in 6 Assembly segments in Mysuru district and 10 in 2 Assembly segments in Kodagu district.

Also, there are 11 exclusive Tribal Booths, with three each in Hunsur, Periyapatna and Virajpet Assembly segments and two in Madikeri segment.

Apart from this, there are 7 exclusive polling booths for the differently-abled — one each in 6 Assembly segments of Mysuru district and one in Madikeri segment, where wheelchairs and other prosthetic equipment and Braille ballot papers for the visually-impaired have been despatched in enough numbers.

The breakup of 2,187 polling booths is as follows: Madikeri – 269, Virajpet – 274, Periyapatna – 235, Hunsur – 274, Chamundeshwari – 338, K.R – 270, N.R – 282 and Chamaraja – 245.

A total of 18,95,056 voters — 9,44,819 men,  9,50,087 women and 150 others will decide the fate of 22 candidates including MP and BJP candidate Pratap Simha, coalition candidate C.H. Vijayashankar of the Congress, B. Chandra of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and 19 independents.

With voting scheduled to take place from 7 am to 6 pm tomorrow, the District Administration, as per the direction of the Election Commission, has clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 and 144 A of CrPC, in 200 mts. radius of all polling booths in the district till midnight tomorrow.

After the voting ends at 6 pm tomorrow, the EVMs from all the 2,187 booths of the Constituency will be brought to Maharani’s Women’s Commerce and Management College on Valmiki Road, Paduvarahalli (Vinayakanagar), Mysuru, where they will stored and secured till May 23, when the counting of votes will be taken up.

Poll-eve preparations and info

• Mustering process held at eight centres

• Polling officials ferried to respective booths

• 535 liquor shops shut till tomorrow midnight

• Mobile phones, cameras not allowed inside polling booths

• Voters must carry EPIC card or any other valid photo ID proofs like Aadhaar card, DL, Passport, PAN card, Bank Passbook, Post Office SB book, Health card, Smart cards of Labour Department among others