Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Election Commission has set a target to set up 5,000 pink polling booths in Madhya Pradesh. In last Assembly election held in 2018, there were 3,054 such booths. The pink polling booths have been named Sakhi Matdan Kendras where all the four officials including presiding officers will be women.
“We will try to ensure that security personnel at such booths are women. But it will depend on availability of security personnel,” Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan told Free Press. The objective behind the setting up pink booths is to encourage women to vote.
However, these booths will be open to male voters, too. Then, there will be 15,000 model polling booths, almost five times their number (3054) in last election. These booths will have a red carpet to welcome voters. Model booths will also have tents, chairs, drinking water and toilet facility.
In addition, there will be 200 PwD (Persons with Disabilities) managed booths, which will be managed solely by PwD officials. A new feature is youth-managed booths where polling officials will be youths. This time, polling process will be webcast from 35,000 polling booths. The figure was 12,870 last time.
About 1,500 sub centres will be set up in polling booths where number of voters is more than 1,150. According to Anupam Rajan, EC has also allowed district administrations to take innovative measures to facilitate voters. The Jabalpur district administration has set up an eco-friendly polling booth made of reusable material. “Idea behind the exercise is to boost voters’ self-esteem, make them feel that they are the most important part of election process,” Rajan said.
Vital statistics
Total polling booths: 64,523
Urban: 16,763 Rural: 47,7670
Women-managed: 5,000
PwD-managed: 200
Webcasting: 35,000
Average no of voters per polling booth: 869
Special polling booths in Bhopal
Constituency Number of polling booths Model Pink PwD Youth Berasia 18 6 2 2
Bhopal Uttar 10 20 1 1
Narela 43 30 1 1
Dakshin Paschim 12 10 1 1
Bhopal Madhya - 10 1 -
Govindpura 12 10 1 1
Huzur 12 8 1 1
Total 107 94 8 7
