Bokaro: Though political leaders and candidates in the fray for the Bermo bye-election were violating Covid-19 guidelines and cases have been filed against them for such violations, the district administration is putting in sincere efforts to ensure peaceful and safe polling on November 3.
District officials said a total of 2,340 polling personnel will be engaged on voting day and steps have been taken up to ensure that they follow the protocols strictly. No person above the age of 55 has been deployed for polling duty and 18 different cells, including for coordination and Covid, have been set up.
Bokaro DC-cum-district election Rajesh Singh has appealed to all 3,11,107 electors in the constituency to exercise their franchise and ensure that the protocols are followed properly as well. He said sanitization of EVM-VVPAT machines has been complete and sanitizer will be provided at the polling booths.
“We will conduct thermal screening of the voters at every polling station. I have asked all polling personnel and other officials engaged in polling duty to follow the guidelines strictly at all polling stations,” Singh said.
Moreover, the district health department has prepared a emergency plan as preparation to face any challenge on the voting day. Civil surgeon Dr A K Pathak said, “No doctor or department staff on duty at the the health centres located in the Bermo assembly constituency can take leave or go out of the district headquarters. We have also assigned one medical team to each polling booth.”
As part of the campaign to ensure a high turnout, Bermo SDO Anant Kumar visited many houses and appealed to the residents to take part in the democratic exercise. Kumar said teams of district officials led by the respective sector magistrates have started home visits to voter slips to the electorates. Police have also started patrolling of the constituency to check for violent and criminal activities.
Meanwhile, the district administration has already lodged FIRs against BJP and Congress for flouting the Covid-19 norms during their election campaigns, officials said.