Direct webcast of poll in Agra
For the first time, a direct webcast of the poll exercise from 50 stations would be watched by Election Commission functionaries and senior officials in this Taj city that votes Feb 28, an official said here.
According to district magistrate Ajay Chauhan, technical teams have been constituted to oversee the operation. Telecom major BSNL will provide the broadband connectivity. The entire poll exercise would be recorded on CDs, which will be kept at the district headquarters.
Every activity of the supervisory staff and the agents would be recorded, Chauhan said.
The Poll Day Monitoring System through short messaging service (SMS) network has been already placed after field trials.
“The system is simple, practical and will ensure communication of important inputs from the field for speedy decision-making. The heads of poll parties will continuously keep sending departure, arrival reports at the booths, percentage of polling every two hours and other information relevant to the conduct of the polling,” said Chauhan.
Under the system, all returning officers, assistant returning officers, sector magistrates and booth-level officials will have to register their mobile numbers with the central monitoring number.
According to an official, the use of information technology has helped save a lot of hassles and paper, and to ensure there are no bottlenecks or confusion, proper “training is being imparted to all who are engaged in the exercise.”
There is also less dependence on manpower. “Everybody and everything is available online and the information is being shared by all,” said an official.
The police too is geared up. “We will have a more efficient system, that will give better results this time,” promised DIG Aseem Arun.
According to Arun, more security forces were available this time. “The whole district has been divided into nine super zones (nine assembly seats, 45 zones, and 304 sectors,” he said.
Flag marches, and constant patrolling by Cobra mobile units will continue till the end of the exercise.
