Over 13,000 polling staff to be deployed at 29 counting centres across Karnataka
Bengaluru, Jun 3: Elaborate arrangements have been put in place with the deployment of more than 13,000 staff at the 29 counting centres across Karnataka for the counting of votes on Tuesday for the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies, officials said on Monday.
The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The first phase of polling in the 14 seats in most of the southern and coastal districts was held on April 26 and the second phase in the other 14 segments in the northern districts was held on May 7.
Each Parliamentary Lok Sabha constituency has one counting centre each. However, in Tumakuru, counting of votes will be done in two places, so the total number of counting centres is 29.
Speaking to PTI, Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka said, "We have 28 Parlimentary Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka and counting of votes at the 29 counting centres in the state will begin at 8 am on Tuesday."
He further said that elaborate arrangements have been made and 13,173 counting staff, including counting supervisors, counting assistants and micro observers have been deployed.
"All necessary training for the staff has also been completed. At each counting centre, EVMs and postal ballots will be counted in separate rooms. Media centres have also been set up at each of these counting centres with required facilities (with computers, xerox, fax, printers) so that they can report to their respective media outlets," he added.
According to the police, in Bengaluru alone, more than 2,400 police officers have been deployed at the three counting centres in the state capital, namely Mount Carmel College, Vasantnagar (Bangalore Central Constituency), St Joseph's Indian High School, Vithal Mallya Road (Bangalore North Constituency) and SSMRV College, Jayanagar (Bangalore South Constituency).
Appropriate arrangements have been made for counting of votes in the three Lok Sabha constituencies within the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) limits to ensure the smooth conduct of the counting of votes under tight security, they said.
A total of 1,524 officers/personnel, 13 armed reserved units and four quick response teams have been deployed by Bangalore City Police unit for counting day and already 516 police officers and personnel, including civil and City Armed Reserve wings, have been deployed for maintaining strong room security duty in three shifts.
More than 400 traffic department police officers and personnel will be stationed to ensure that traffic flow around the counting centres is not interrupted.
A total of more than 2,400 police officers and personnel of the city has been deployed for vote counting duty to monitor the situation in the three counting centres.
From Monday midnight to June 4 midnight, sale of liquor is prohibited in city limits and prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC has been imposed in Bengaluru from 6 am on Tuesday to Tuesday midnight.
The Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and City Armed Reserve platoons will be deployed in sensitive areas of the city to no ensure that no untoward incident occurs, police said.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
