All set: Polling officers carrying EVMs leaving for polling stations, on Tuesday. (Pic by Satish Raut)

 

 

 

The stage is set for a crucial democratic exercise as voting for 12 constituent Assembly seats in the district starts at 7 am on Wednesday. About 45,25,997 registered voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 4631 polling stations. A total of 217 candidates are in fray whose fate hinges on today’s ballot. The voting will last till 6 pm. The election for Maharashtra Assembly elections was announced on October 15 by Election Commission of India (ECI). October 28 was the last date of nomination while the final list of candidates was published on November 5 after rejections and withdrawals. Even though the voting will conclude today, the face of next Government in the State will only be revealed on November 23 after the counting of votes. November 25 is the last date to conclude the Maharashtra Assembly elections as term of Assembly ends on that day. Among the 217 candidates in the district, Nagpur (North) constituency, with 26 candidates, has the most number of aspirants in the fray. Umred constituency has the least number of candidates in the district with only 11 candidates listed on EVM machine. Among other constituencies - Nagpur (South-West) has 12 candidates; Katol, Ramtek, and Nagpur (East) has 17 candidates; Saoner and Hingna has 18 candidates; Kamptee has 19 candidates; Nagpur (Central), and Nagpur (West) has 20 candidates; and Nagpur (South) has 22 candidates. The District Administration has employed services of around 33,000 Government employees for the smooth conduct of the elections.

 

It includes 5,558 Presiding officers; 5,558 first voting officers; 11,116 other voting officials; 168 micro observers; 5,558 police and home guards; and 5,558 Grade IV employees. All the officials and employees involved in electoral process have undergone rigorous training’s in last one-and-a-half month on handling the election process. Dr Vipin Itankar, District Collector and District Election Officer, has appealed citizens to participate in election process in large numbers. He also visited various dispatch centers and interacted with the electoral officials and cleared the doubts that were in their minds. Kamptee constituent Assembly features 530 polling station, the highest in the district followed by Hingna with 476 polling stations. They are followed by Saoner with 370 polling stations, Ramtek with 359 polling stations, Umred with 345 polling stations, while Katol constituency has 332 polling stations. Among the Six constituencies in the city, Nagpur (North) has most number of polling stations with 408.

 

It is followed by Nagpur (South-West) with 384; Nagpur (East) with 368 polling stations; Nagpur (West) with 351 polling stations; Nagpur (south) with 350 polling stations; and Nagpur (Central) with 308 polling stations. For increasing the voter participation, district administration had conducted various programmes under SVEEP including Votethon, Marathon, and bike rally among others. ECI has also installed some special polling centers to increase voter participation. These include 14 model polling station, 13 all women officials polling stations, 13 youth employees controlled polling stations, and 10 Divyang controlled polling stations. Kamptee Assembly segment has 5,01,770 voters, the most in the district while Katol assembly has the fewest voters with 2,81,367. While Nagpur (North) with 4,28,845 has the highest numbers of voters among the six constituency in the city, Nagpur (Central) has least number of voters.