The Monteiro couple were deputed on poll duty for the sixth time. “He had to leave early to Puttur at 6 a.m. I left home around 8 a.m.,” said Ms. Benedicta Monteiro, who was among the group of officials getting ready to leave for a polling booth near Ullal.
They are among the 15,000 personnel involved in the election to be held on Thursday. Among themwas a group of students from different engineering colleges in the city who will be involved in webcasting the proceedings of select polling booths.
The personnel reported at mustering centres at four places in the city from where they left with electronic voting machines (EVMs) and other materials required.
Women polling personnel were happy to get booths that were near to Mangalore. “During the Assembly elections I had a problem returning to the city from a polling booth in Belthangady late in the night,” Ms. Benadicta said.
Primary schoolteacher Babita G.K. Gatty said this time they have been allowed to return home on Wednesday night and come to the polling booth by Thursday morning at 6 p.m. “We are saved from sleeping in the polling booth,” Ms. Gatty said.
They also appreciated the district administration’s initiativeto inform them on Tuesday night about the polling booth they were allotted. “In the past we were kept in dark till we landed at the polling booth,” said another woman polling official.
Shankar Narayan Prasad, a lecturer in the Government College in Vittal, said the arrangements this time were more systematic than earlier.
Students excited
There was excitement among the group of 29 final year BE students from Sahayadri Engineering College taking part in the polls for the first time. “We are excited to be part of the webcasting process,” said Chirant. The students had brought in laptops fitted with camera. They are provided with internet connection for webcasting of polling process.
