THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, March 5: Palamu administration is committed to providing AMFs (assured minimum facilities) at 1,796 polling stations.
District Election Officer Shashi Ranjan, who is DC here, said, “We have PSL (polling station location) and PS (polling station). It enables us to ascertain the AMFs. And AMFs will be there.”
About three weeks ago, a bulky team from Ranchi came to our booths and conducted an audit.
Nodal officer of the Karmik Koshaang Kundan Kumar, who is additional collector, said, “There was a random selection of 40 booths out of 1,796 total booths which this team audited for AMFs.”
Kundan Kumar said the bulky team had split into three-person teams for each of the five assembly constituencies here.
He said eight booths, each falling in 5 assembly constituencies, were audited.
The booth audit had two components: the physical verification of the polling booths and the facilities for the polling parties and the voters.
Kundan Kumar told the Jharkhand Story, “The audit team noticed and assessed the buildings in which booths have been set up. All the booths are on the ground floor, none on the upper or first floor. All our booths are on the ground floor.”
The audit team ascertained the booths’ distance from the human habitation, as booths have to be 2 km away.
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The audit team ascertained facilities such as a ramp for persons with disabilities, drinking water, electricity, a ceiling fan, a mobile charging point, signage to polling stations, a separate toilet for male and female voters, a permanent or temporary shed for voters in waiting in summer, etc.
Kundan Kumar said, “It’s important to note the route, passage or road up to the booth. Accessibility to the booth is essential.”
The audit teams observed facilities for the polling parties and the voters, such as a ramp, shed, furniture, etc.
The ECI has asked for payment of 1000 rupees to each of the booth-level officers for its upkeep and maintenance. There are 1,796 booth-level officers here.
Kundan Kumar made it clear that there is no auxiliary booth here. The maximum intake capacity of a booth here is 1500 voters. Booths in Palamu conform to this, as no booth is overflowing with more than 1500 voters.
There will be ten booths where young blood officers aged 22 will operate.
“The idea behind this youthful booth is to inculcate a sense of duty towards the country,” added Kundan Kumar.
There will be nine such booths, and people with disabilities will be manning them all. Kundan Kumar said, “It is to showcase that people with disabilities can perform poll duties as efficiently as others.”
The ECI has asked for booths for ‘Pardanasheen’ women, where one of the four members of the polling party has to be a woman to handle ‘Pardanasheen’ voters. The Palamu administration has yet to decide on the number of Pardanasheen booths.
The nodal officer of the postal ballot cell, A K Tiwary, SDM Sadar, said, “Our activities are on for postal ballot. We have already trained our master trainers. There will be finishing touches on their training.”
As regards ‘bonding down’ under section 107 of CrPC, nodal officer Tiwary said, “It’s a routine affair. It is to be done to contain dubious people.”
