Dhanbad: The ballot boxes used in the 1,019 polling booths set up for the Feb 23 elections to elect officials for the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) and the Chirkunda Municipal Council (CMC), as part of the civic body polls across the state, were transported to the designated receiving centre set up at the govt polytechnic campus in the presence of security personnel, administrative officials, and representatives of contesting candidates late Sunday night, officials said.At the receiving centre, election personnel completed all statutory formalities before placing the ballot boxes in the strong room at earmarked locations. Thereafter, the strong room was sealed in the presence of district election officer (municipal)-cum-deputy commissioner Aditya Ranjan, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prabhat Kumar, deputy development commissioner Sunny Raj, sub-divisional magistrate Lokesh Barange, returning officer for the mayoral post Vinod Kumar, and representatives of mayoral, chairperson and ward candidates.
SSP Prabhat Kumar said, “The strongroom will remain under three-tier security until the counting of votes. The innermost security layer has been assigned to the Jharkhand Armed Police, while the middle and outer layers are guarded by district police personnel. Continuous surveillance, including round-the-clock monitoring, has also been arranged to ensure the integrity of the stored ballot boxes.”
