‘Sakhi’ booths debut in Uttarakhand, women voters hail move

DEHRADUN

: Already a poll feature in Delhi and several other parts of the country, the concept of “pink booths” or 'Sakhi booths' -- polling centres run by an all-women staff -- debuted in

Uttarakhand

in the single-phase voting held on Monday. A total of 101

Sakhi

booths were set up across the Himalayan state to draw more women voters.


Although majority of women voters came to know of the concept only at the polling station, they appreciated the initiative. Sushma Chauhan, 68, who cast her vote at

Sherwood School

in

Dharampur

in Dehradun, said, “I was pleasantly surprised to see an all-women staff. In fact, I found out about the pink booth concept today itself.”

Of all the districts, Dehradun had the highest of 18 pink booths, with three each in Dharampur, Rajpur Road and

Dehradun Cantt

assembly segments. A woman police personnel deployed on duty at a Sakhi booth in old Dalanwala said, “Both men and women voters exercised their franchise here. A lot of them were a little surprised to see an all-women staff but the polling process was completed peacefully.”

Some of the Sakhi booths had a creche facility and a designated breastfeeding space for women voters.

When asked if pink booths were successful in drawing more women voters, a poll official said, “It is hard to say at this point. Only a detailed analysis of the turnout at all Sakhi booths can reveal if the initiative encouraged more women voters to turn up at polling stations. Prima facie, I can say that the turnout at pink booths was in line with the average footfall in that respective zone.”

Meanwhile,

R Rajesh Kumar

, district magistrate, Dehradun, said, “The idea was to improve the voter turnout. Hopefully, going forward, we will be able to increase the number of such booths.”

However, despite claims of the Dehradun district administration, social distancing was violated at several polling booths as police personnel faced a tough time regulating voter queues.

Uttarakhand has a total of 82.66 voters -- including 42.38 lakh men and 39.32 lakh women. In Dehradun, which has been recording a voter turnout lower than the state average for the last few elections, there are 7.07 lakh women voters and 7.8 lakh men electors.


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