Prohibitory orders from 6 pm

Mysuru: With the polls for Mysuru-Kodagu LS seat just two days away, the District Administration has made all necessary arrangements for the Apr. 18 voting. As per the direction of the Election Commission, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Cr.PC comes into effect across the district from 6 pm today once the public campaign ends. The prohibitory orders will be in force till the midnight of Apr. 18 and all fairs and shandies have been postponed. Also sale of liquor has been banned from 6 pm today (Apr. 16) till midnight of Apr. 18, said DC Abhiram G. Sankar.

All outsiders have been asked to leave the Constituency by 6 pm today, according to Abhiram G. Sankar, who is also the District Electoral Officer.

All the EVMs of Mysuru-Kodagu LS Constituency will be stored at Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management building on Valmiki Road, Paduvarahalli (Vinayakanagar) in city, where the counting of votes will take place on May 23. The EVMs from all the 2,187 polling booths in the Constituency will be brought to the Centre after the voting ends at 6 pm on Apr. 18.

The EVMs will be kept in the ground, first and second floors of the building as per their markings. The Counting Centre has been provided a 3-tier security and will be guarded round-the-clock till May 23 by Central Armed Police Forces, City Armed Reserve and City Police.

Mustering tomorrow

The mustering will take place tomorrow morning (8 am) at all the 8 centres in the Constituency. The mustering for Madikeri Assembly segment will take place at St. Joseph’s Convent, Madikeri; for Virajpet at Govt. Junior College, Virajpet; for Periyapatna at Pushpa Convent, Periyapatna; for Hunsur at Devaraj Urs First Grade College, Hunsur; for Chamundeshwari at Maharani’s College of Arts for Women on JLB Road in city; for K.R. segment at Maharaja’s College Centenary Hall; for Chamaraja at Baden Powell Public School and for N.R. at JSS College on Ooty Road.

400 buses for poll duty

The District Administration has sought over 400 buses from KSRTC for ferrying poll personnel to their respective booths along with EVMs after mustering tomorrow and to bring them back to the Counting Centre at Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management where EVMs will be stored after de-mustering.

As a security measure, the poll authorities have sealed all windows and doors of the rooms in the college building where the EVMs will be stored as per their marking. After de-mustering that takes place on the night of Apr. 18 after conclusion of the voting, all the rooms will be sealed for ensuring fool-proof security. The seal will be opened only on the morning of May 23 when the counting will be taken up.

Even as the KSRTC has lent 400 buses for poll logistics, the KSRTC authorities in Mysuru said that additional buses will be operated tomorrow (Apr. 17) and the day after (Apr. 18) on the routes wherever required in order to meet passenger demands.

The polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on Apr. 18. There are 18.95 lakh voters in Mysuru-Kodagu LS seat, who will decide the fate of sitting MP and BJP candidate Pratap Simha, coalition candidate C.H. Vijayashankar of the Congress, B. Chandra of the BSP and 19 other candidates who are in the fray.

MBA classes shifted

With the poll authorities taking over the Maharani’s College to store EVMs, the College authorities have shifted the ongoing MBA classes to the hostel building nearby. The first year MBA classes will be conducted from the hostel building from Apr. 22 to May 25, it is learnt.