Mangaluru: The Legislative Council elections having been scheduled on December 27, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner AB Ibrahim on Tuesday December 15, informed that every polling station will have one presiding officer, one nodal officer, one group-D and one police personnel. If the number of voters in a polling station exceed 25, an additional nodal officer will be appointed. All staff concerned will be trained in Town Hall on December 21.
Throwing light on poll procedure, the DC said that the ballot paper will feature 8 candidates with their names and photographs and a NOTA option. Voters can cast their vote by marking 1, 2, 3….8 in numbers or in roman numerals I, II, III in the respective boxes only in a violet sketch pen which will be provided with the ballot paper. The voter is supposed to mark 1 for the most preferred candidate. The preferences cannot be indicated in words as one, two, three etc. A vote will be rendered invalid if any other mark like tick mark, cross mark, signature, thumb impression, etc is found on the ballot paper.
After voting, the ballot boxes will be shifted to the counting centre at Victoria Girls Pre-University College at Ladyhill, Urwa, where the counting will take place from 27 to 30 December. Counting will be done on 15 tables. Candidates can appoint a counting agent to each table. Each counting agent has to submit a filled Form-18 along with a picture to the Election Officer.
It may be recalled that six out of 14 candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving only six candidates in the fray. They are – S Prakash Shetty, K Prathapchandra Shetty, Praveenchandra Jain, Kota Srinivas Poojary, Alphons Franko, Ismail Dhoddamanava, K Jayaprakash Hegde and K Harikrishna Bantwal.