Page 278 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

Leap of Faith Journey of Indian Elections

Voters standing
in a queue in Bijapur
District, Karnataka

also citing the provisions of Indian Penal Code that might assets amounting to INR 288 crore while the Model Code
attract punishment for violation. of Conduct was in operation. The Election Commission of
India had deployed 146 Expenditure Observers in the state
There were good stories as well. Centenarian Mahadeva
to strictly monitor the situation; as many as 81 Assembly
Mahalinga Mali (103) cast his vote from his home at
Chikkodi in Belagavi by postal ballot. Chief Election Constituencies were marked as expenditure sensitive.
Commissioner Rajiv Kumar reached out to him to thank More than 80,000 senior citizens in the 80+ age category,
him for his commitment towards democracy. and more than 19,000 Persons with Disabilities (PwD) had

Being sharply contested elections, the need to keep them filled Form 12D to avail home voting facility. A total of
inducement free was more. Well-coordinated multi- 94,931 of them put together actually exercised the
agency operations led to quadrupling of seizures in cash option. The conduct of the actual polls on May 10, was
and kind (liquor, drugs, precious metals etc.) over the highly satisfactory. Voting was peaceful across 58,545
previous edition of legislative assembly elections. By the polling stations across 224 Assembly Constituencies.
poll eve, the seizure figures had touched INR 384.46 crore, There was no demand for re-polling anywhere. Polling
which was 4.5 times the seizures (INR 83.99 crore) stations witnessed large queues. Many newlywed couples
recorded in 2018. The Enforcement Directorate attached were seen casting their votes. A 23 year old expecting

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