Mangaluru : Voters begun casting their votes since morning 7 am for the gram panchayat polls today, Total  3,399 seats in 227 gram panchayats in Dakshina Kannada and 2,398 seats in 155 Gram Panchayats of Udupi district .

Speaking to media Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer A.B. Ibrahim said that the administration was ready for the polls. Dakshina Kannada has a history of good voter turnout, with 73.51 per cent of the voters exercising their franchise during the previous gram panchayat elections.

Though no large-scale malpractices were reported in the district during the run-up to the polls, there were a few minor complaints, including allegations of political parties carrying out the campaign on party-lines, which is prohibited by law. The administration has ensured adequate security, particularly at booths categorised as sensitive and hyper sensitive, Mr. Ibrahim said. The district has 880 polling booths of which 65 have been classified as naxal-prone, 139 as hyper sensitive, 216 as sensitive and 460 as normal. As many as 2,700 police personnel have been deployed for security arrangements, according to Superintendent of Police S.D. Sharanappa.

He said as many as 61 mobile sector squads and 10 supervisory mobile squads would keep tab on the poll process even as polling would be video recorded in select polling booths.

As many as 3,146 candidates are contesting for 1,136 seats in 102 Gram Panchayats in Kodagu district, in the Gram Panchayat elections to be held today.

The elections will be held between 7 am and 5 pm. The district administration has taken all measures to conduct elections peacefully.

As many as 143 polling booths have been identified as sensitive and 100 as hyper-sensitive. 102 election officers and 102 assistant election officers have been deployed on election duty. PRO and equal number of APROs have been deployed in 478 booths. Also, 956 Booth Level Officers have been appointed.

Mustering work was carried out at Madikeri, Virajpet and Somvarpet taluk centres on Thursday. The election staff reached their respective booths on Thursday evening.

In Madikeri taluk, the mustering was done under the supervision of Tahsildar Kunhamma, mustering in Virajpet and Somvarpet were done under the supervision of the Tahsildars Prasannamurthy and Shivappa respectively.

Election staff were seen walking to their respective booths carrying election materials from St Joseph’s High School, Virajpet and Government Junior College, Somvarpet.

As many as 22 members have been unanimously elected out of 483 seats in 40 Gram Panchayats in Virajpet. Election officer and taluk Magistrate B S Shivappa said that 181 booths have been
equipped with necessary staff and 50 additional staff will be deployed as per requirements.

The taluk administration has arranged for 23 buses, 13 maxicabs and 42 jeeps towards elections. A total of 1,44,806 voters comprising 71,315 men and 73,491 women will exercise their franchise. In 40 GPs, 117 men from General category, 135 women (General), 15 men (backward classes -A-), four women ( backward classes – B), 25 men, 58 women, six men (ST), 42 women (ST), 27 men (SC) and 54 women (SC).

As many as 157 polling booths have been set up for the election of seats in 36 Gram Panchayats in Virajpet taluk. Total number of voters is 1,28,916 – 64,254 men and 64, 662 women. Out of 441 seats, candidates in 42 seats have been elected unanimously. A total of 628 staff, four staff per booth, will be on election duty today.

Tight security has been arranged at the booths in the maoist infested areas of Makutta, Birunani, Parakatageri and Kutta. As many as 49 booths have been identified as sensitive and 37 as hyper-sensitive. Assistant Commissioner Dr Nanjundaswamy and Nodal Officer Tirumalesh have been deployed in Virajpet, said Taluk election officer Prasannamurthy.

Around 100 vehicles including 23 KSRTC buses, mini buses and jeeps were arranged for ferrying of officials and for the transportation of election materials to the booths. Two KSRP, four Armed police battalions, 109 police, 62 head constables, nine forest guards, seven PSI, 10 ASI, three CPI and one DySP will be on duty, said Virajpet CPI Shanthamallapa.