CEC holds meet with officials to review poll preparedness

: Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat Tuesday held a meeting with electoral officers and superintendents of police of all the districts of Telangana.

A 11-member team, headed by Rawat, is here to review the preparedness for the Assembly elections to be held in the state on December 7.

He discussed the law and order situation with officials and manpower requirement and their training, sources said.

The EC team enquired about the implementation of the model code of conduct in the state, they added.

Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar and Commissioner of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Dana Kishore were also present at the meeting, the sources said.

The commissioner had earlier said the civic body needed about 20,000 employees for the poll process.

The Rawat-led team would be meeting the state chief secretary SK Joshi and DGP Mahendar Reddy on Wednesday.

An official press release said Rawat launched a voter accessibility app for the differently-abled (VAADA-a promise).

This is an initiative, among others by the EC to make the ensuing elections in Telangana accessible and inclusive and GHMC developed the App.

VAADA makes the voting process for the differently- abled convenient and increases the accessibility factor. Built as an app it has a text, voice as well as GIS (Geographic Information System) interface.

The VAADA app will be a boon to the over 20,000 differently-abled voters who now can take part in the electoral process without worrying about logistics, the release had said.

He also flagged off vehicles to raise awareness among voters on EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail).