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Udupi : The Election Commission declared on 27^th March, the Schedule for General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, 2018. Hence, the Mode of Conduct came into effect as soon as elections scheduled, said Priyanka Mary Francis, Deputy Commissioner of Udupi district.

Addressing the media persons at DC office on Tuesday, 27^th March, Priyanka Mary Francis said that brief about the poll events and schedule. As such, date of issue of Gazette Notification Tuesday, 17^th April, 2018; Last Date of Nominations on Tuesday, 24^th April; Date of Scrutiny of Nominations Wednesday, 25^th April; Last Date for Withdrawal of candidatures Friday, 24^th April, Date of Poll, Saturday 12^th May, 2018; Date of counting Tuesday, 15^th May, 2018 and Date before which election shall be completed Friday, 18^th May 2018.

She said that the term of the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka is normally due to expire on 28^th May, 2018.By virtue of its powers, duties and functions under constitution of India, the Commission is required to hold general election to constitute the new Legislative Assembly in the State of Karnataka before expiry of its present term.

The Commission firmly believes that pure and updated electoral rolls are the foundation of free, fair and credible election and intensive and sustained focus is laid on improving their quality, health and fidelity. The Commission, after visiting the poll bound state, had directed the state election machinery to ensure a smooth, effective, inclusive and time boud completion of Special Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls with reference to 01.01.2018 as the qualifying date, so as to ensure that all eligible but un-enrolled citizens in the state are duly registered in electoral rolls. Special efforts were made to identify the critical gaps in the electoral rolls and targeted SVEEP activities were carried out to address them.

Final publication of electoral rolls in respect of Karnataka has been done on 28^th February, 2018. The details of the final publication are available on the NVSP website (sss.nvsp.in) / CEO, Karnataka website (www.ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in).

Total number of electors as per draft electoral rolls in Udupi district 9,78,503 voters. In Udupi constituency the voters are total 2,03,777, out of that 98,759 men and 1,05,015 are women. In Byndoor total voters are 2,18,863, out of that 106196 men and 112653 women. In Kundapur total number of voters are 197061, out of that 94653 are men and 102408 are women. In Kaup constituency total 179794, men are 85446 and women 94347 and in Karkala constituency total voters are 179008, out of that 85676 men and 93331 are women.

There are total 1078 polling booths available for voting. Out of that Byndoor 243, Kundapur 215, Udupi 213, Kaup 203 and Karkala 403 polling booths.

DC said that the commission has prepared the Schedules for holding general election to the legislative assembly of Karnataka after taking into consideration all relevant aspects like climatic conditions, academic calendar, major festivals, prevailing law and order situation in the state, availability of Central Police Forces, time needed for movement, transportation and timely deployment of forces and in-depth assessment of other relevant ground realities.

The Commission after considering all relevant aspects has decided to recommend to the Governor of the State to issue notifications for the General Elections under the relevant provisions of the Representations of the People Act, 1951, as per the Schedule.

The Commission seeks the active cooperation, close collaboration and constructive partnership of all the esteemed stakeholders in the electoral process and strives to employ the collective synergies towards delivering a smooth, free, fair, peaceful, participative and festive General Assembly elections.

Priyanka Mary Francis said that in relate to whichever canvassing for election, prior permission will be needed. Meanwhile using mike during the cancass also need permission from the police department. The election canvassing time will be 6 am to 10pm only.

She said that the permission will be needed to any programmes in associations or any prior to their programme from related election officers, she said.

The checking of names in the voter list should be available in the website. Identification of the voters at the polling booth at the time of poll shall be mandatory. Electors who have been provided with EPIC shall be identified through EPIC. All the residual electors are advised to obtain their elector photo identity cards from Electoral Registration Officwers of their Assembly Constituencies immediately.

In order to ensure that no voter is deprived of his/her franchise, if his/her name figures in the electoral rolls, separate instructions will be issued to allow additional documents for identification of voters, if needed. Aadhaar Cards has also been included as an additional document for establishing the identity of voters at the Polling stations.

To felicitate the voters to know where he/she is enrolled as a voter at a particular polling station and what is his/her serial number in the electoral roll, the commission has directed that official voter slip bearing the photo of the elector wherever present in the roll will be distributed at least 7 days before the date of poll to all enrolled voters by the district election officer and a very close and rigorous monitoring of the distribution process shall be done by DEO and General Observer concerned.

In this election a voter guide shall be handed over to every household ahead of the elections, giving information about the date and time of polls, contact details of the BLOs, important websites, helpline numbers, documents required for identification at the polling station besides other important information including the Do’s and Don’ts for voters at the polling station.

As part of its firm commitment towards gender equality and greater constructive participation of women in the electoral process, the Commission has also directed that, to the extent possible, All women Managed Polling Stations’ shall be set up in one polling station for each assembly constituency where the entire polling staff, including the police and security personnel, shall be women.

EVMs & VVPATs shall be used in all the polling stations of all the Karnataka to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election. The Commission has already made arrangements to ensure availability of adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs for the smooth conduct of election. The first level check of EVMs and VVPATs has been completed in the presence of representatives of political parties. A two stage randomization of EVMs and VVPATs will also be done. Thus paper slip for one polling station in each assembly constituency will be counted in Karnataka.

The Mode of Conduct comes into effect immediately from now onwards. All the provisions of the Mode Code will apply to the whole of Karnataka and will be applicable to all candidates, political parties and state of Karnataka. The Mode Code of Conduct shall also be applicable to Union government.

All critical events will be video-graphed. District election officers will arrange sufficient number of video and digital cameras and camera teams for the purpose.

Considering the long term deleterious impact of materials like plastics, polythene etc on the life giving and life sustaining environment, the commission has directed that all political parties, contesting candidates and their authorized agents shall desist from utilizing environmentally hazardous materials like plastics, polythene etc for the preparation and usage election related publicity materials during the ensuing general election to the assembly.

The commission is genuinely concerned about the serious noise pollution and greater disturbance to the peace and tranquility of the general public by the reckless, widespread and flagrant use of loudspeakers during the election canvassing and campaign by candidates, political parties and their agents.

Comprehensive instructions for the purpose of effective monitoring of the election expenditure of the candidates have been issued. The functioning and operations of the Flying Squads/Mobile Teams shall be closely monitored using GPS tracking.

The election expenses ceiling for candidates has been revised by the government of India. As per the revised ceilings, the maximum limit of election expenses for the Assembly election is Rs. 28 lakh per candidate for the state of Karnataka. All candidates are required to furnish their accounts of expenditure within 30 days of declaration of results.

All political parties sponsoring candidates for the elections are required to maintain day to day accounts of all election campaign expenses and submit the accounts to the Commission within 75 days of the completion of such elections. Such accounts will be uploaded on the website of the Commission for public viewing.

CEO Shivanand Kapasi and ADC Anuradha were present during the press meet.