Hyderabad: DEO briefs election observers on polling measures

Hyderabad : Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to be held on May 13, foolproof arrangements are being made for conducting peaceful and fair elections by the Hyderabad district election authorities. The election observers who were appointed for the Hyderabad and Secunderabad parliamentary constituencies also inspected the election arrangements.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) appointed the general, expenditure, and police observers to the Hyderabad district for the general elections. The ECI appointed General Observer Dr Saroj Kumar, IAS and Expenditure Observer Amith Shukla, IRS for Secunderabad-8 Parliamentary constituency, and General Observer P I Sreeividya, IAS and Expenditure Observer Senthil Kumaran, IRS for Hyderabad-9 Parliamentary constituency. Also, Shashank Anand, IPS 2006 batch, has been appointed as a police observer for both Hyderabad and Secunderabad Parliamentary constituencies.

Hyderabad District Election Officer (DEO) Ronald Rose and Hyderabad city police Commissioner K Sreenivasa Reddy briefed Election Observers on the comprehensive measures being undertaken to ensure incident-free and fair elections.

Moreover, all the arrangements have been explained for conducting elections in a peaceful and free atmosphere in each constituency. Subsequently, polling officers, assistant polling officers, and other polling staff who will be conducting election duties completed the randomisation process in the presence of the observers.

DEO Ronald Rose articulated pivotal initiatives, underscoring the integration of advanced technology for surveillance. They inspected the polling stations, counting distribution, reception centre, polling personnel training, postal ballots, home voting, SST, FST, VVT inspection teams, and EVM randomisation.

They also inspected the district election officer complaint grievance call centre MCC control room.

On this occasion, general and police observers expressed their satisfaction over the election arrangements in the district. They recommended the deployment of a local individual well-acquainted with the area, ensuring a thorough understanding of the local context. Additionally, their suggestions included the maintenance of hygiene standards at polling stations.

EVDM director Prakash Reddy, District Collector Anudeep Durishetti, Additional Collector Hemant Keshav Patil, Nodal Officers, and other officers were also present.

Since the election schedule was announced, authorities have seized Rs 16.19 crore in cash, Rs 1.58 crore worth of liquor, and arrested 232 individuals involved. As per the Hyderabad DEO, the flying squads had seized Rs 3.26 crore, police seized Rs 12.76 crore and SST teams Rs 15.79 lakh.

In the past 24 hours, up to 6 am on April 25, authorities seized Rs 4.10 lakh in cash, precious metals valued at Rs 53,863, and 119.21 litres of liquor. Additionally, they arrested eight individuals involved. So far, the authorities have received 470 complaints concerning cash and election-related items. 314 FIRs have been registered. A total of 2,995 licensed weapons have been deposited in Hyderabad.