THANE: In separate drives carried out by the vigilance squads across various parts of Thane district ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, as much as 84,000 litres of illegal liquor and 25 kilos of contraband drugs have been seized.This was announced by district collector and election officer Rajesh Narvekar on Saturday while charting out the preparedness of his team for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections that have been scheduled in Thane on April 29.“The district administration, police and other agencies have already taken various preventive steps. They have seized illegal arms, liquor and drugs and have also taken strict action on those found violating the code of conduct by displaying illegal boards and banners across the district ahead of the polls,” said Narvekar.The process for filing nominations by aspiring candidates for the three Lok Sabha seat elections in Thane district will begin from April 2, he said. The nominations will be accepted till 3pm on April 9, after paying a deposit of Rs 25,000 for candidates from the general category. The scrutiny of applications will be done on April 10 and the last date for withdrawal of applications will be on April 12 till 3pm.An official from the election department in Thane said that there will be 6,488 booths in the district and a request for an addition of 227 booths has been sent after a fresh drive to add new voters yielded success last month. As per the mandate, there is one polling booth for 1,200 voters in rural area and 1,400 for those in urban areas.There are over 60 lakh voters who will be go to the polls this season in the district, said an official during the meet. The administration has confirmed that there are no vulnerable booths in the district while adding that a decision on earmarking critical and sensitive booths would be taken soon in consultation with the police.Meanwhile, Narvekar said that they were working on having the highest number of all women and divyang-operated polling booths in the state. “We are in the process of tabulating appropriate booths in the district where we could deploy an all-women team, including polling officers and security personnel,” he said.He also said that adequate staff and ballot machines, along with voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT)s, have been deployed in the district to cater to emergencies. The ballot machines are tamper proof and can sustain 50 degrees temperature. No mobiles will be allowed in the polling booth for security reasons, said an officer.Speaking about the initiatives, Narvekar said that they are making arrangements of erecting sheds outside polling booths or centres, besides forming separate queues for the elderly, physically challenged and pregnant women. “We will also explore possibilities of escorting the physically challenged to and from their homes. Special arrangement for medical kits, creche facility for lactating women, along with adequate ramps for the disabled will be provided at the booths,” Narvekar said.The process for filing nominations by aspiring candidates for the three Lok Sabha seat elections in Thane district , that will be held in the fourth phase, will begin from April 2. The nominations will be accepted till 3pm on April 9, after paying a deposit of Rs 25,000 for candidates from the general category

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