Mysuru: The public campaigning for the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) elections came to a close at 7 am today and candidates and their supporters are now on a door-to-door canvassing. The usual hustle and bustle and the noise of public campaigning that was witnessed till last evening was missing this morning with candidates waking up before the crack of dawn and reaching places of canvassing. They, however, had to wind up public campaigning at 7 am.

Candidates and their four to five supporters are at present on a door-to-door campaign and are visiting homes in their last-ditch efforts to woo the voters. In all, there are 393 candidates from BJP, Congress and JD(S) and a host of independents fighting to gain a place in the 65-member Corporation Council. Voting will take place on Aug.31.

Preparing for the election, the Mysuru District Administration has set up 725 main booths and 90 auxiliary booths where the number of voters and candidates are high. There are a total of 815 booths and the same number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has been allotted. Each booth will also have three EVMs as reserve in case of technical snags.

There are 3,97,180 male voters, 4,01,395 female voters and 98 others, taking the total voter count to 7,98,673. The Administration is expecting a voter turnout of 55 to 65 percent and to increase the voter count, the authorities had taken up several Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programmes. “We have declared a paid holiday on the voting day on Aug.31 and have taken several other steps,” MCC Commissioner K.H. Jagadeesha told Star of Mysore.

Mustering process will take place tomorrow, a day before the election, at Maharani’s Arts College on JLB Road, Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management on Valmiki Road at Paduvarahalli, Maharaja’s College Centenary Hall and Teresian College on Bannur Road. Mustering will begin at 8 am and each polling booth will have five officers — one Presiding Officer, one Assistant Presiding Officer and three staff. After the mustering, the officers will leave to their respective booths along with EVMs, ledgers, indelible ink and stationeries.

“The officers will be transported in Government buses and they will stay for the night at the booth tomorrow. Voting will begin at 7 am on Aug.31 and end at 5 pm. We have checked all EVMs and we are also ready with spare machines in case there is a technical snag,” he said. This time, the indelible ink will be applied on the ring finger of the left hand.

After voting, the de-mustering process will start and all the voting machines will be dumped inside a Strong Room at Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management. Counting of votes will take place on Sept.3 and the Strong Room will be opened and votes will be counted from 8 am. The results are likely to be out by afternoon.