Erode (East) bypoll 2025: Arrangements in place, says District Election Officer

With polling for byelection to the Erode (East) Assembly Constituency scheduled for February 5, EVMs, VVPATs and other election materials were dispatched from the Corporations Central office to polling stations in Erode in Tamil Nadu onFebruary 4, 2025
| Photo Credit: M. Govarthan

The District Election Officer and Collector Raja Gopal Sunkara has said that all arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of polling on Wednesday (February 5, 2025) and urged voters to exercise their democratic rights without fail. Polling will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 237 polling stations in the constituency.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, he said that a holiday has been declared for educational institutions, government and private organisations in the constituency to facilitate voting. Additionally, voters from the constituency working across the district and nearby districts are entitled to a paid holiday on Wednesday. “If any violations are found in granting the holiday, action will be taken against the establishments concerned,” he added.

The Collector said, besides the four flying squad teams and three static surveillance teams, an additional flying squad team has been formed to monitor the implementation of the model code of conduct (MCC). Since the MCC came into force on January 7, teams have seized ₹54 lakh in cash for lack of valid documents, of which ₹41 lakh have been released.

Nine vulnerable booths

Mr. Raja Gopal Sunkara said there are 2,27,546 voters in the constituency and voter information slips have been distributed to 90% of them. “Voters can use any one of the 12 types of documents for voting,” he said, adding that necessary facilities have been arranged at all polling stations. The Collector noted that nine vulnerable polling booths have been identified, and webcasting will be conducted in all polling stations. Additionally, micro observers will monitor the polling process at each booth and report directly to the observers, he said.

Regarding security arrangements, he said 1,500 police personnel and three companies of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were deployed at the booths. A total of 57 election-related complaints have been received so far, and necessary action has been taken.

On the arrangements at the counting centre at the Government College of Engineering in Chithode, Mr. Raja Gopal Sunkara said that after the polling, all electronic voting machines and other machines will be transported to the centre and stored in strong rooms at the Mechanical block of the college. “The strong room will be sealed in the presence of candidates, and the seal will be removed on the day of counting, February 8,” he said. The Collector added that the strong rooms will be monitored by closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) and candidates can view the footage at the control room.