Mysuru:  Voting to elect the 65-member Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Council will begin at 7 am tomorrow (Aug.31) and as a prelude, mustering began at four centres in city this morning. In all, 393 candidates — BJP, Congress, JD(S) and independents — are in fray and vying with each other to occupy the coveted chair of a Corporator. Voting will take place at 725 main Booths and 90 auxiliary Booths (total of 815 Booths) from 7 am to 5 pm.

Mustering process began at 8 am today at Maharani’s Arts College on JLB Road, Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management on Valmiki Road in Vinayakanagar, Maharaja’s College Centenary Hall and Teresian College in Siddarthanagar.

Each Polling Booth will have one Presiding Officer (PO), one Assistant Presiding Officer, two Polling Officers, one D-Group employee and one Police Constable. At the Mustering Centres, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), indelible ink and stationeries were supplied to the respective POs.

In all, there are 13 Revenue Officers (ROs) for 65 Wards in the MCC who are managing the electoral process at Mustering Centres. Accordingly, at each Mustering Centre there are three ROs to oversee the mustering process. There are four officers at Teresian College Mustering Centre.

A demonstration of how the EVMs work was done at all the Mustering Centres this morning and doubts of polling officers on the operative part of the machines were cleared. All the polling officers are set to leave to their respective Wards at 3 pm by special KSRTC buses, carrying their luggage. Breakfast, lunch had been arranged at the Mustering Centres. The entire process of mustering was videographed and tomorrow’s voting too will be videographed at all booths.

Officers and staff are expected to stay overnight at the Polling Booths and once they reach there they need to open the EVM box and conduct a mock poll. This apart, they must check if arrangements for power, water and toilets are made at the booths and if not, report to the authorities. One more mock poll will be conducted at all Polling Booths at 6 am tomorrow to see if there is any machine malfunction.

After the voting, the EVMs will be brought to Maharani’s College of Commerce and Management on Valmiki Road at Paduvarahalli where the counting will take place. Over 15 to 16 strong rooms have been established at the centre and plywood boards will be used to seal the rooms.

Counting of votes will take place on Sept. 3. The strong rooms will be opened and votes will be counted from 8 am. The results are likely to be out by afternoon.

ULB: 12,000 vials of indelible ink

City-based Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited (MPVL), earlier called MyLAC, a key player in the voting process, has supplied 12,000 vials of indelible ink to the Election Commission for tomorrow’s Urban Local Body (ULB) elections across the State. MyLAC has made its own mark in the country’s elections by supplying indelible ink to all polls in the country right from Gram Panchayat to Lok Sabha. Of the 12,000 bottles supplied to the Election Commission, two bottles per polling booth has been distributed.

Each 10 ml bottle (vial) of indelible ink can be used on 800 people. This time, the indelible ink will be applied on the ring finger of the left hand. Public Sector Unit MPVL was set up soon after independence and it is the only company in India authorised to produce indelible ink.