Bhatkal: Taluka administration has completed all the preparations for the Gram Panchayat elections to be held on December 22 in Bhatkal and Honnavar taluks, informed Bhatkal Assistant Commissioner Mr Bharath.

Addressing press meet, he said that there are 16 gram panchayats in Bhatkal taluk for which elections will be held for 261 seats, and for this 672 candidates are in the fray at present. At present 20 candidates have been elected unopposed. No one has filed nomination papers in Madikeri, Kodamki and Talkod, so there will be no election.

Elaborating further, the AC said that polling would be held in Bhatkal on December 22 from 7 AM to 5 PM. For this, 16 Electoral Officers, 20 Assistant Electoral Officers, 8 Sector Officers and 2 Flying Squads have been deployed. A total of 600 staff members have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the elections. In addition, 150 code help desks have been set up and 150 ASHA workers, 104 Anganwadi workers and 237 security personnel will play their part in the election process.

The Assistant Commissioner said that there are a total of 93255 voters in Bhatkal taluk, out of which 47332 are male and 45923 are female. There are 34 service voters. In addition, it will be necessary to maintain social distance and use of sanitizer.

He also said that at present there are 3 COVID positive patients in Bhatkal and 6 in Honnavar, who are at their respective homes. Arrangements will be made for them if they wish to come for polling. Thermal scanning of every person coming for polling will be done and if fever is detected from anyone, they will be separated from others.  Rapid test for COVID will also be done if required. For the convenience of elderly and pregnant women, separate rooms have been arranged to sit.