Foolproof security in place for Presidential polls

New Delhi, July 18: All is set for voting in the 13th Presidential polls tomorrow with foolproof security arrangements being put in place to ensure peaceful and orderly conduct of the exercise that would decide the fate of UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil and NDA supported Independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

''Absolutely foolproof and perfect arrangements have been made for the Presidential polls. Election Commission has appointed two observors who have inspected the arrangements and are fully satisfied,'' Returning Officer and Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary told UNI.

A total of 4,895 electors, including both MPs and MLAs, are likely to participate in the nationwide voting process. The number of MPs have come down to 775 due to the death of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar while 4,120 MLAs from various states and union territories would also exercise their franchise.

Mr Achary said the voting would take place in Room number 62 of the Parliament House while in states it would take place in respective assemblies between 1000hrs to 1700hrs tomorrow. Six voting booths have been set up in the Parliament House and the voting process would be manual as no Electronic Voting Machine being used in this election.

Apart from the MPs, five MLAs would also vote in Parliament House. The MPs would vote on green ballot paper which have two columns carrying the names of both the contestants while the MLAs would vote on pink ballots. Just like these MLAs, who include four from North East and one from Bihar, 51 MPs have also sought Election Commission's permission to cast vote in their own state's assemblies or some other place. Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, who is an MP from Kerala, would vote in Chennai where he is at present.

Asked about any challenges being faced in making the preparations, Mr Achary said, ''Every election is a challenge and we have made all preperations to meet this challenge.''

Though the Election Commission has asked all MPs to carry their identification papers, the Returning Officer felt that it would not be required as most of the MPs are known by their face. However, strict checking of identification would be carried out for MLAs. Asked if some impersonator comes like it happened some time back when a lookalike of BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha reached Parliament House unchecked, Mr Achary said, ''We have learnt a lot from that incident and now all steps would be taken so that none could violate the security arrangement.''

He said adequate security arrangements have been made at Parliament House and state assemblies to prevent any untoward incident during polling. Even the MPs, who can carry their mobile phones inside Central Hall of Parliament, would not be allowed to take these mobile phones inside the polling booths as many of these have camera with which photos of the ballot papers could be taken thereby violating the secrecy of voting process, he informed.

Regarding the safety of ballot boxes during transportation for counting on July 21 at Parliament House, he said that the Assistant Returning Officers accompanied by an assistant would bring them by air from each state except Uttaranchal from where it would be brought by road. One seat would be especially booked for the ballot box on plane. While most of the states have one box each, Uttar Pradesh, which has maximum 4O3 MLAs, would have two such boxes.

The security for transporting these boxes within the state would be provided by respective state police while once it would reach the National Capital, it would be the responsibility of the Delhi Police.

The Election Commission would set up a Control Room at the Airport and both the Delhi Police and Parliament Security would keep round the clock vigil to ensure the safety of these boxes till counting, which will take place in Room number 63 of the Parliament House from 1100hrs on Monday, he added.

UNI

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