DW BUREAU / LUDHIANA In view of the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections, Chief Electoral Officer Punjab Dr S Karuna Raju today reviewed the poll preparedness in all 14 constituencies of district Ludhiana. He held a meeting with District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma and other senior officials through video conferencing today evening. In a bid to have watchful eyes, remote and real-time monitoring of all 2969 polling stations of the district, the Ludhiana administration would keep surveillance through live streaming to ensure free, fair and transparent assembly polls. Besides, Micro Observers and CAPF would be deployed on all vulnerable polling booths in addition to webcasting. Divulging the details after attending late evening VC of Chief Electoral Officer, Varinder Kumar Sharma said that there were a total 1481 polling stations in urban and 1484 in rural areas of the district. He said that these 2969 polling stations would have live streaming through which the administration would keep eye on the number of voters standing in the queues, polling process in real-time and monitoring the entire polling process through control rooms. He said that there would be high-resolution webcams connected to the high-speed internet to ensure steady transmission of visuals from all the vulnerable polling stations. The Deputy Commissioner also said that additional CAPF would be deployed at such polling stations of the district. He said that the district administration would also set up an all women polling centre and one all PwD (persons with disabilities) polling centre in each constituency. He informed that the district administration has started the process of distributing option form 12D to PwD and 80 years and above voters, so that if interested, they can fill these forms and submit with their concerned returning officer, after which postal ballots would be issued to them. Sharma reiterated the firm commitment of the district administration to ensure free, fair and transparent assembly polls and that he would leave no stone unturned for the successful holding of the festival of democracy. (editor@dailyworld.in)