Assembly polls: Special arrangements for voters with special needs

Assembly polls: Special arrangements for voters with special needs

Efforts to help differently-abled, senior citizens, pregnant women and pink booths "Sakhi" will be manned by women

Staff ReporterUpdated: Sunday, October 20, 2019, 12:02 AM IST
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AFP PHOTO / Dibyangshu SARKAR

Mumbai: To encourage more people to cast their vote, the Mumbai suburban district election officer has taken innovative measures and has moved the voting booths to the ground floor. These measures are being taken to help differently-abled, pregnant women and senior citizens. Besides this, scouts and guides will assist voters who need help, provide wheel chairs and other aids if necessary.

A total of 7,397 polling stations have been set-up in the Mumbai suburban district. In fact, during the recent Lok Sabha elections, there were 1,973 polling booths on the first and second floor. However, the officials realised there were many voters who could not climb stairs and nearly 1,506 polling booths were brought to the ground floor for the convenience of voters.

Moreover, pink polling stations named as Sakhi (friend) will be set up. These Sakhi centres will be run by only women staff. A total of 27 such Sakhi polling centres will be set up. The idea was first implemented during the Lok Sabha elections and several people appreciated the concept. This effort will be replicated in the Assembly polls. Voters are welcomed with rangoli at the entrance of Sakhi voting centres and greeted with flowers. This time, the voters will be served Kokam sharbat and will be given cloth bags at the Sakhi voting centres, to create awareness on single use plastic ban. Both the Kokam sharbat and cloth bags have been sourced from womens' self-help groups to encourage their small-scale businesses.

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