Tonk-Sawai Madhopur is among Rajasthan’s parliamentary constituencies where voting is taking place today. In this district, 10,025,933 voters are expected to exercise their franchise at a total of 984 polling stations, including 957 general and 27 auxiliary polling stations.
Dr. Khushaal Yadav, Collector & District Magistrate and District Election Officer, Sawai Madhopur, had an exclusive conversation with ETGovernment. He described the steps that the district administration had taken for safeguarding the electoral process. Here are some excerpts from the conversation between Dr. Yadav and ETGovernment:
SVEEP-Various efforts to increase voting percentage
Before the election, a target had been set to increase the voter turnout from 62.62% in the last Lok Sabha elections of 2019 and 71.13% in the last Legislative Assembly elections of 2023 to 75% in the General Elections to Lok Sabha in 2024.
The voting percentage was lower than the state average of 62% (in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections) in a total of 496 booths (Gangapur 126, Bamanwas 117, Sawai Madhopur 140, and Khandar 113). Adoption officers will work at a total of these 496 booths to increase the voting percentage as per the action plan.
Anganwadi workers, Rajeevika, Asha, SHGs, ANM to run a special campaign at booths where the gender gap in voting is more than 5 percent (Gangapur 83, Bamanwas 71, Sawai Madhopur 125, and Khandar 164). A door-to-door campaign will also be run to promote voting by women.
Efforts are being made to increase the overall voting percentage. Awareness campaigns are being run daily at the booth, village, block, and district levels as per the SVEEP calendar through the convergence of 21 departments. A strategy to increase the voting percentage at each booth is being worked upon by effectively implementing the Booth Awareness Group that functions at the booth level.
The “Aao Booth Chale” (आओ बूथ चले) campaign was organized on the 14th and 21st April. Under this campaign, invitation letters (invites) and voter slips were distributed along with yellow rice to all the voters of the district on the 14th and 21st of April.
Facilities for Home Voting
Applications for voting through home voting in Form 12-D had been received from a total of 1308 voters in the district, including 950 senior citizens (85+ age group) and 358 specially-abled people. Efforts were made for their voting by going to their houses from 14th to 21st April, and for those who were deprived of voting due to some reason, they could vote in another round for home voting on two days – 22-23rd April.
Election activities are being monitored through the INTEGRATED CONTROL ROOM. Given the Lok Sabha General Elections 2024, on the initiative of the Election Commission, 24-hour monitoring is being done through the integrated control room to ensure compliance with the Model Code of Conduct in the district for free and fair elections.
C-Vigil app
A total of 133 complaints regarding the violation of the code of conduct were received from the Multipurpose Control Room on C-Vigil. All the complaints have been resolved.
The average time for the disposal of complaints on C-Vigil in the district was less than 18 minutes. Effective action is being taken immediately on complaints received on Voter Helpline Number 1950.
Control Room for swift information sharing and action
One district-level and five Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) level control rooms were operated for all types of information related to the violation of the Model Code of Conduct and elections.
Strict vigil on social media and fake news: The establishment of an integrated social media control room with advanced technology by the district administration, police, and DoIT to monitor the news and posts of misleading, untruth, and violation of the code of conduct on social media during Lok Sabha General Elections 2024 has been done. Reporting of any kind of election-related fake news or hate speech can be done on the police department’s district-level WhatsApp number 9530437072 and state level 8764873137.
Basic facilities at polling stations: As per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, all basic facilities including toilets, drinking water, and electricity were being ensured at the polling stations to facilitate smooth, easy, and safe voting.
For the convenience of the voters, proper arrangements for signage and help desk were also being made at the polling stations. A waiting room facility will also be provided for voters. Specially-abled people and senior citizens will be provided information about volunteers, wheelchairs, ramps, transportation facilities, and voting facilities on a priority basis without queues.
A total of 72 special polling stations including 32 being managed exclusively by women, 32 by youth, 4 by specially-abled people, and 4 model polling stations are being built in the four assembly constituencies of Sawai Madhopur and Gangapur City districts.
Security and Safety During and Before Elections
Police will take action against the broadcasting of fake news under the IT Act. As per the standards set and norms of Police Headquarters, 2216 police personnel, 680 Home Guard personnel, 444 RAC personnel, and 1440 personnel from 20 CAPF companies have been deployed to ensure free, fair, and fear-free conduct of the Lok Sabha General Elections 2024 in the district. The aforementioned personnel will oversee the election proceedings.
Web-casting of Critical Polling stations: 515 critical polling stations are being monitored through webcasting to take restrictive action in the areas and to ensure free, fair, and fearless voting by curbing anti-social elements. 125 critical polling stations in Gangapur City, 227 in Bamanwas, 90 in Sawai Madhopur, and 73 in Khandar will be monitored through webcasting.
Videography of the electoral process
A total of 60 videographers have been deployed for the videography of critical polling stations and critical events. Besides, meetings and meetings held by political parties and candidates are also being videographed.
Four Assistant Expenditure Observers (ARO), 36 Flying Squads, 36 Static Surveillance Teams (SST), 8 Video Surveillance Teams (VST), 4 VVT teams for four assembly constituencies in the district to prevent the transportation of contraband items like cash, liquor, precious metals/free-seeds and 4 accounting teams have been formed.
In coordination with 36 flying squads, 36 static surveillance teams, and district nodal officers of enforcement agencies as mentioned above, seizures have been made of contraband material worth about Rs 10 crore 59 lakh so far.
EVM Preparation, Transportation, and Security
During the Lok Sabha General Elections 2024, one control unit, one ballot unit, and one VVPAT were used at a total of 984 (957 general and 27 auxiliary) polling stations (booths) in the four assembly constituencies of the district.
All EVMs and VVPATs are stored in the EVM/VVPAT warehouse located at the district headquarters where they are being monitored by the armed guards of the state police 24 hours a day and through 12 CCTV cameras.
No person will be allowed to carry mobile or other electronic devices in the EVM/VVPAT warehouse during the preparation of EVMs.
Candidates contesting elections or their authorized representatives may be present during the preparation of EVMs to observe the process. The entire process of EVM preparation will be video-graphed, and the building at the preparation site will be under CCTV surveillance for 24 hours.
The departure of polling parties will be done from Mahatma Gandhi Government School, Sahu Nagar, Sawai Madhopur, one day before the polling day (P-1) i.e., on April 25, 2024. As per the protocol laid down by the Election Commission of India for the transportation of EVMs, the live location of the vehicles allotted to the polling parties will be tracked through Google Maps.
The reserved EVMs and VVPATs will be stored in the intermediate temporary strongroom established at the headquarters of the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) one day before the polling day.
The vehicles of sector officers will be tracked through Google Maps, and the sector police officer and police force appointed along with the sector officers will have the responsibility for the security of EVMs.
After the completion of voting, the EVMs/VVPETs used at the polling stations of all the assembly constituencies of the district will be brought to the collection center of Mahatma Gandhi Government School, Sahu Nagar, Sawai Madhopur, at the district headquarters under the supervision of central security forces. For this, CAPF personnel and QRT appointed to maintain law and order on the polling day will be directed to provide security to the vehicles of polling parties.
After the collection of EVMs and material from all the polling stations of the district on the night of 26.04.2024, the EVMs/VVPATs used at the polling stations will be kept in a closed container equipped with GPS in a section under the protection of the Central Security Force in the concerned Assembly Constituency and then they will be sent to Government PG College Tonk under the supervision of Assistant Returning Officer (ARO). Scrutiny and counting will be done at Tonk at the Returning officer level.
