Visakhapatnam GVMC polls to use pink ballot for Mayor, white for corporator

Voters in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) elections will have to cast two separate votes – using a pink ballot paper to elect the Mayor and a white ballot paper to choose their ward corporator. Both ballot papers must be deposited in the same ballot box after voting, District Collector and Election Officer M. Abhishikth Kishore said on Saturday.

While polling for all 120 GVMC wards will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on October 28, counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m. on October 30. The district administration has made elaborate arrangements to ensure that the elections are conducted in a free, fair and peaceful manner, he said.

Addressing a press conference at the Collectorate in Visakhapatnam, Mr. Kishore said the GVMC has 18,37,901 voters. More than 10,000 polling personnel have been identified for election duty, and the first phase of training had been completed.

A total of 41 Returning Officers and 41 Assistant Returning Officers had been appointed. Polling personnel would be allocated duties through a randomisation process in accordance with the State Election Commission's guidelines, he said.

Ten distribution centres, one for each GVMC zone, had been established to facilitate the distribution of election materials. Nine buildings at Andhra University had been readied to accommodate strong rooms and counting halls. After polling, ballot boxes and other election materials would be shifted to the designated strong rooms and kept under security.

The administration had identified critical, sensitive and highly sensitive polling stations and was making additional security arrangements wherever necessary.

The Collector said the maximum election expenditure limit was fixed at ₹40 lakh for a Mayor candidate and ₹15 lakh for a corporator candidate.

Tight vigil

Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi said 6,607 police personnel would be deployed for the GVMC elections. Security arrangements would cover polling stations, strong rooms, distribution and reception centres, and other key locations.

The police would deploy route mobile teams, striking forces, checkposts, static pickets and shadow teams, besides establishing control rooms to monitor the election process. A total of 177 route mobile units and 16 static surveillance teams had been planned, he said.

Surveillance would be strengthened through photography, videography, CCTV cameras and drones. The police had identified potentially sensitive areas and were holding direct interactions with residents to prevent untoward incidents.

Three outreach programmes had already been conducted within the limits of the Two Town, Airport and Three Town police stations. More such meetings would be organised in the coming days to promote peaceful polling, the Commissioner added.