Mysuru: There is a shortage of 7,000 poll personnel in Mysuru District and the list of eligible people must be made available as the elections to the State Assembly is fast approaching, said Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep. He was addressing a election review meeting here this morning.

It is found that during elections many persons who are deployed for election duty escape it citing various reasons.

“If we find that people are shirking election duty, then the Department heads will be held responsible. Hence, the shortage of poll personnel must be made good,” he said.

He said that shortage was due to various reasons and this time one extra person is required at the polling stations as the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be introduced.

He called upon all the government and non-government persons including the Police personnel, officials of the KSRTC, Health Department to name a few, to vote through postal ballot as it was found last time that there were less than 4,000     postal ballots.

“If we ourselves do not set an example how can we ask others to come to the polling stations to vote,” he wondered.

He asked the officials to submit all the files of the ongoing works with photographs of the works taken up but it should be done before Feb. 28 as it becomes difficult to take up the work once the Model Code of Conduct is in place.

He said that pending works should be started physically and the evidence should be produced in the form of photographs. As otherwise, all works will come to a standstill due to model code of conduct.

Randeep said that all the officials must be election-ready because they would not know when the Election Commission will announce the poll dates. Immediately all government advertisements related to the projects displayed on all government and private buildings, KSRTC buses must either be covered or removed. However, only if there are general instructions to the public, they can be allowed,             he added.

He also said that he would seek clarification regarding Indira Canteens (which carry the photo of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi) and 108 ambulances.

In all, there are 430 polling stations in the District and all of them must necessarily have proper infrastructure like ramps, drinking water, toilets and electrification.

There will be no holiday for the staff once the election dates are announced and the poll code comes into force, he said.