Waiting rooms, shades at booths to woo Kolkata voters

KOLKATA: Alarmed by a dip in polling percentage in the fifth phase, particularly in the semi-urban areas like Barackpore and Howrah, the Election Commission is making extensive arrangements for the seventh phase, when Kolkata South, Kolkata North, Dum Dum, Jadavpur are going for the polls.


To woo the

voters

this time, EC is focusing on two aspects — security and comfort factor at polling booths in Kolkata, where the polling percentage has traditionally been the lowest in the state.


“It will be a challenge to attract the voters to booths. We have designed quite a few programmes to woo the voters. Also, we are trying to make the polling booths more comfortable so that voters can cast their votes peacefully,” said Dibyendu Sarkar, district election office of Kolkata North.

In 2014 Lok Sabha election, when the state average was 82.22%, only 67.95% of the voters cast their votes in Kolkata South. In Kolkata North, the figure was just 65.99%. In some rurban constituencies, the assembly segments those were in the city limits also recorded a poor polling percentage. In Tollygunge, that falls under Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, the polling percentage was 74.01%. The turnout was 73.3% in Jadavpur assembly segment. Metiabruz, that falls under Dimaond Harbour LS constituency, recorded only 72.26% polling and

Bidhannagar

assembly segment of Barasat parliamentary constituency, the polling percentage was 71.81%.

According to senior officials of the CEO’s office, the commission has asked to construct shades in front of each polling station. “There will be arrangement for water, medical facilities and waiting rooms where people can take rest if they feel uncomfortable. The aged and the physically challenged voters will be allowed to cast their votes early,” the official said.

The CEO’s office is also making arrangements so that the physically challenged voters don’t have to climb stairs to cast their votes. “In Kolkata North, there are many booths which are on the first and second floors. We had engaged an NGO that has identified the booths that have voters with disabilities. We are trying to bring these booths down on ground floor,” an official at the CEO office said.

To ensure security, the EC is deploying 146 companies of forces for 1,576 premises in the city. Another 27 companies of central force will be deployed in Bidhannagar.