Preparations for Latur civic polls begin with deployment of more than 2.5k staffers

Latur, Dec 20 (PTI) Nearly 2500 government employees will be deployed for the smooth conduct of the Latur Municipal Corporation polls scheduled on January 15, civic chief Mansi Meena said on Saturday.

Work has been streamlined through the creation of 22 dedicated sections and appointment of six Returning Officers for 18 wards, she said.

"Teams have been appointed for the Model Code of Conduct cell, expenditure monitoring, static surveillance, flying squads, and video recording of campaign meetings and rallies. Static surveillance teams will be deployed at five key locations at Ambajogai Road, Barshi Road, Ausa Road, Babhalgaon Road and Nanded Road," Meena said.

The storage of EVMs will be in the strongroom in the Government Women's Polytechnic on Barshi Road, the official said.

"Candidates will be required to submit nomination forms offline at six designated centres corresponding to their wards. User-friendly software has been made available to easily search names and numbers in the voters' list," the official added.

To increase voter turnout beyond the 2017 civic elections, a Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) awareness campaign will be rolled out, she said. PTI COR BNM