15,000 govt employees on poll duty in Kolhapur

KOLHPUR: The district administration has appointed more than 15,000 employees for poll duty at 3,135 polling booths in the district for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. There are two Lok Sabha constituencies in the district, Hatkanangale and Kolhapur, where polls would be carried out on 17 April.
District supply officer and election nodal officer for Kolhapur district Sanjay Shinde said, "There are 39,919 employees working at 5,979 government offices in the district.We have deployed 25 per cent of 15,676 employees on election duty. For the Kolhapur Lok Sabha constituency, we have deployed 9,976 employees and 5,700 for Hatkanangale."
"All these employees will be provided with postal ballots so that they could exercise their franchise and participate in the election process as well," he said.
As per the directions of the election commission, the district administration will organize a special training of these employees working for the poll campaign at the taluka level. The first training session would be organized on March 22 and 23 and the second session would be planned in the second week of April.
There are a total of 10 assembly segments in the district, six for Kolhapur and four for Hatkanangale constituency. Two more assembly segments from Sangli district, namely Shirala and Islampur (Walva), are included in the Hatkanangale constituency. A total 1,995 polling booths are in Kolhapur while 1,743 are in Hatkanangale constituency. In Hatkanangale, of the total 1,743 polling booths, 603 are in Islampur and Shirala constituencies of Sangli district.
A total of 28,25,180 voters, including 13,60,425 females, have been registered with the district administration as per data published by officials on January 2014. March 18 was the last date for voters to register their names and the district administration will publish the final list on March 26.
The district administration will start accepting nomination forms from candidates in Kolhapur and Hatkanangle constituencies from March 19 and polling will be held on April 17. The counting of votes will be done on May 16.
Additional district magistrate Sanjay Pawar has issued prohibition orders from 9am to 6pm between March 19 and 29 at the collectorate under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The orders would be in force around 100 meters from the collector's office.
Factfile:
Total voters in district: 28,25,180
Total employees on poll duty: 15,676
Employees for Kolhapur constituency 9,976
Employees for Hatkanangale constituency: 5,700
Total polling booths in district: 3,135
Polling booths in Kolhapur constituency1,995
Polling booths in Hatkanangale constituency1,743