Around 17,37,865 electorates will decide the fate of 22 candidates on the Baramulla Parliamentary seat in Jammu and Kashmir which is going for polling on Monday.
Although 22 candidates are in the fray, the real fight is among four prominent candidates namely the former Chief Minister and the National Conference candidate Omar Abdullah, Peoples Conference candidate Sajad Gani Lone, Awami Itifad Party candidate Engineer Rashid, who has been lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail and Peoples Democratic Party candidate Mir Mohammad Fayaz.
Over 2,000 polling stations have been established across the Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency during the fifth phase of ongoing Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held on May 20.
"These total 17,37,865 lakh voters enrolled in phase fifth included 8,75,831 male and 8,62,000 female voters besides 34 third gender electorates. There are around 17128 Persons with Disability and 527 persons above the age of 100 years who will be exercising their franchise", read a communiqué shared by the office of Chief Electoral Officer, J&K.
28 border polling stations are highly sensitive
Out of the 2,103 polling stations set up in the four districts Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, and parts of Budgam, 28 border polling stations in Kupwara and Baramulla districts are highly sensitive. In total, more than 8,000 polling staff, including reserves, will be deployed on duty on the polling day.
The voting will take place from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm and before that, there will be a mock poll in the polling stations in the presence of the polling agents. Also, the voting will continue even after 6.00 pm, if the voter's queue is still there in the polling station premises to exercise their right to vote.
There will be 18 polling booths managed by women (also called pink polling stations), 17 polling booths manned by specially-abled persons, and 18 by youths.
Also, there will be 21 green polling stations in order to spread messages about environmental concerns. The purpose behind these special polling stations is to spread awareness among sections of society like women, especially-abled, first-time young voters to come forward and exercise their right to vote.
CCTV cameras installed in all polling stations for live webcasting
All 2103 polling stations will have CCTV cameras for live webcasting in total 4206 cameras and 50 additional CCTV cameras at the main entrances of the polling stations.
The poll day will be monitored through 24X7 Integrated Command and control rooms established at the CEO level with the latest technologies and all the polling stations will be monitored throughout the day by a tech-savvy team.
Also, control rooms have been set up at RO/DEO offices for parallel monitoring. Few polling stations fall in communication shadow areas. Suitable alternate arrangements by providing satellite phones, wireless sets, and special runners have been put in place around a few polling stations that fall in communication shadow areas.
Special polling stations set up for Kashmiri migrants voters
As per the latest instructions of the Election Commission of India Special Polling Stations have been established for Migrant Voters of the Kashmir division. A total of 26 Special Polling Stations have been established with 21 polling stations in Jammu, four in Delhi, and one in Udhampur district respectively. Special Polling Station-wise extract voter list will be with BLOs.
