Thirteen accepted IDs, app to track polling; Kerala all set for final voting day

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With two days left for voting in Kerala, officials will head to the booths the next day. Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on Friday. There are 25,231 booths set up for 2,77,49,159 voters across 20 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Central Election Commission has announced that polling in eight constituencies will be fully filmed (webcasted) as part of security precautions. Voting in Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram constituencies will be filmed. Voting machines are kept in strong rooms and will be handed over to the polling officers on the eve of polling.

Meanwhile, the authorized voter slip with a photograph issued by the election authorities is not recognized as an official identification document.

Turnout app to track polling

The Election Commission also has an app namely 'Voter turnout' to quickly inform people about the voter turnout of the elections. The polling percentage from each constituency will be available every two hours. Booth-wise information will also be available on the day after polling. The Election Commission has also developed an application called Poll to monitor the procedures at the polling stations and update the polling status to the officials every hour. It can be accessed by the Manager, Presiding Officer of Polling Booth, First Polling Officer, Sectoral Officer, CEO, RO and ARO.

The presiding officer or the first polling officer should record the answers to 20 questions in the app between the time the polling team leaves the distribution centers and returns.

Thirteen IDs can be used

1. Election ID

2. Aadhaar Card

3. PAN card

4. Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card

5. Service Identity Card

6. Bank/post office passbook with a photograph

7. Health Insurance Smart Card by Ministry of Labour

8. Driving License

9. Passport

10. Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR Scheme

11. Pension Record

12. Official Identity Card issued to MP/MLA/MLC

13. National Employment Guarantee Scheme Identification Card

Director-General of the Central Meteorological Department has informed the Election Commission that there is no concern about a heatwave on Friday, when polling will be held in Kerala. Normal weather is predicted in 13 states and Union Territories where elections will be held in the second phase.

Following reports of high temperatures and heatwaves in some parts of the country, the commission held a meeting with the concerned agencies yesterday to understand the weather information for the coming days. The meeting was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and attended by commission members Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Chief of National Disaster Management Authority, and Director-General of the Central Meteorological Department.