3,281 polling booths in dist to be sanitised today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The polling booths in district would be ready on Monday for the local body elections to be held on Tuesday. As many as 3,281 polling stations for 1,727 wards will be sanitised as part of the Covid protocol and the poll officers will be given safety materials along with the election items. The State Election Commission has made it mandatory for poll officers deployed in polling station to use face shield, mask, sanitiser and hand gloves. The polling agents too have to wear mask and sanitiser. All voters have to use sanitiser while entering and exiting the booths.

The voter has to show the identity card before the officer and the mask should be removed if necessary for identification, said a statement. Three voters will be allowed to enter the booth at a time by maintaining physical distancing. The officers will start collecting the polling materials from 16 distributions centres from morning. The distribution will be held at block level. Sarvodaya school in Mar Ivanios Nagar will be the distribution centre for Thiruvananthapuram corporation. After voting, the presiding officers would return the electronic voting machines and other items to the distribution centres where the machines will be stored in strong rooms.

Identity cards allowed

Voters need to show any of the following identity cards before poll officer for voting: Election identity card, passport, driving licencc, PAN card, Aadhar card, photoaffixed SSLC book, photoaffixed pass book issued by a nationalised bank six months before the date of election, identity card issued by State Election Commission to voters newly added to the list.