Dhar (Madhya Pradesh): Campaign for election to the nine local bodies in Dhar district, which are going to the polls on January 20, came to an end on Wednesday 5 pm.
Ahead of the polling, both district administration and police are on the toes looking after the preparations and ensure free and fair voting.
In the district, elections will be held for Dhamnod, Dharampuri, Rajgarh, Dahi, Sardarpur, Kukshi municipal councils along with Dhar, Manawar and Pithampur municipalities. The voters will elect their representatives for a total 166 wards in the district.
As per the Election Commission, voting will be held in the municipal areas from 7 am to 5 pm on Friday- January 20. results will be declared on January 23. Counting of votes will began at 8 am and the trend will start coming from 9 am on Monday.
Poll material distribution today
District collector has appointed returning and assistant returning officers under whose guidance the polling would be held. Election materials will be distributed to all the employees engaged for election duty on Thursday morning.
Employees up to Polling officer-1 and polling officer 2 will be deployed at each booth along with the presiding officer. Dhar and Pithampur industrial town have maximum wards. The civic bodies of the other places have around 15 each.
According to deputy electoral officer Shivhare, complete election materials have been sent to every civic body. The concerned SDMs, returning officer will now allot the material to the employees on election duty.
Reserve EVMs at wards
Reserve EVMs will be arranged and the same will be used if the existing voting machine at any ward develops any technical glitches. The officials concerned will reach the polling booth within a few minutes and replace malfunctioning EVM with the reserve one.
402 booths: 95 declared sensitive; 15 hypersensitive
Polling will be held at a total of 402 booths. According to deputy election officer Neha Shivhare, a total of 95 booths in the district have been kept in the category of sensitive booths, while 15 booths have been declared hypersensitive. Additional force is being deployed in these sensitive centers. The administration is keeping a strict watch on 35 sensitive booths in Dhar area. Besides, seven booths of Dhamnod have also been kept in category of sensitive. Seventy police mobile vehicles will be on the move keeping a watch on these areas. According to the police officials, in case of any emergency, police parties moving around will reach the sensitive booth within in 5 to 8 minutes. As compared to the last election, five more polling booths have been declared sensitive in the upcoming elections.
Max polling centres in Pithampur
Pithampur Municipal Council will have maximum polling booths as many as 93,000 voters will exercising their franchise, while with 5381 voters, Sardarpur Parishad with the lowest number of polling centers in the district.
Additional police force deployed
In view of the elections, additional police force has been allotted to Dhar.Two police companies have reached the district and their deployment will be made to ensure free and fair polling
Employees on poll duty cast vote
Employees engaged in election duty exercised their franchise by casting their vote through postal ballot papers. Postal ballot papers were issued to 315 employees residing in Dhar municipality area.
Figures at a glance
Local body No of Wards Male voters Female voters Total voters
Dhar 30 40740 40159 80902
Pithampur 31 52549 40659 93218
Manawar 15 12780 13122 25906
Dahi 15 3226 3319 6545
Sardarpur 15 2670 2711 5381
Rajgarh 15 7841 7929 15770
Kukshi 15 10967 11124 22095
Dhamnod 15 12754 12799 25554
Dharampuri 15 7611 7672 15283
