State will have 97k polling stns, deploy 6 lakh staff for elections

Mumbai: As the state goes to polls in five phases starting April 19, the number of voters has risen even over the last two months. On Jan 23 when the electoral roll was revised, total voters were 9.13 crore.Registration of young voters has been a cause of concern in the state. Voters in the 18-29 age group was 1.7 crore till March 15. Voters over 85 years are 13.1 lakh. Of these, 52,908 were over 100 years old.The state will have 97,325 polling centres and use a staff of around 6 lakh. As many as 150 polling centres will be set up in highrises in cities including Mumbai, Pune and Thane to encourage voting.Chockalingam said the state’s voter turnout remained a matter of concern. “The state’s voter turnout rose from 60.3% in 2014 to 61% in 2019 but it needs to improve much more. Let’s all work at achieving an 85% turnout. We urge those who have not registered, to do so,” he said, adding senior citizens and the disabled could apply and ask for a home visit by polling staff in order to vote.While overall number of voters in the state has risen since 2019, number of women voters has recorded a steeper rise. Male voters have risen from 4.6 crore to nearly 4.8 crore while the number of women voters has risen from 4.2 crore to 4.4 crore.The expenditure limit for Lok Sabha candidates in the state is Rs 95 lakh. Media monitoring committees will be set up at the district level. “Both social media and print media will be monitored for paid news and violations of the model code of conduct,” said Chockalingam.He urged the public to use the government’s IT apps during the polls. These include e-vigil to complain of violations, the Saksham app for registration of disabled voters and to search for polling stations. The Know Your Candidate app will provide details about the candidate including criminal cases against him or her.On April 19, in the first phase, polling will be held in Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur and Chandrapur. In the second phase, 8 seats in Vidarbha and Marathwada will go to the polls. They are Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Yavatmal Washim, Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani. Voting will be held here on April 26. Eleven will vote in the third phase on May 7: Raigad, Baramati, Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Hatkanangle. On May 13, polling will be held in 11 seats: Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi and Beed. Polling in the 5th phase will be held on May 20. This phase will see the highest number of seats (13) going to polls. This includes Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane, and six seats in Mumbai.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.