The city will for the first time have women-friendly polling stations in this Assembly election. The Election Commission has notified 32 polling booths across four constituencies — Kazhakuttam, Vattiyurkavu, Thiruvananthapuram and Nemom — as women-friendly booths. These polling booths will be run exclusively by women polling officials and will have women police constables handling the security arrangements.
“In the past, there have been complaints from various quarters that many of the booths are not friendly to women, including to women polling officials and women voters. It is to address these issues that such booths have been arranged this time. This is my first time on election duty. We were given comprehensive training on how to operate the Electronic Voting Machine and handle issues that could crop up during the course of polling,” says Mini, posted on duty at the women-friendly booth no.48 at St. Joseph’s High School.
According to District Collector Biju Prabhakar, who is also the District Electoral Officer, the initiative is an experiment in women empowerment.
“Through this initiative, we can show that women can run an entire polling booth on their own. This is the first time we are having such an experiment in the State,” he said.
In the Kazhakuttam constituency, the women-friendly polling stations are booth no.130 at Government HS, Mannanthala, booth no.116 at Government Higher Secondary School, Medical College, booth no.120 at Government UP School, Ulloor, booth no.97 at Government LPS, Kannammoola, booth no.87 and 90 at Government LPS, Valiya Udayeswaram, booth no.84 at Devayani Memorial LPS, Oruvathilkotta, and booth no.99 at Government HSS, Karikkakam.
Vattiyurkavu
In Vattiyurkavu, booth no.75 at RKD NSS HSS, Sasthamangalam, booth no.107 at Government Model GHSS, Pattom, booth no.126 at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, booth no.127 at Arya Central School, Pattom, booth no.117 at Holy Angel’s, Nanthencode, booth no.105 at Salvation Army School, Kowdiar, booth no.120 at Government City VHSS, PMG Junction, and booth no.103 at Pattom Thanupillai Memorial UP School, Kuravankonam, are women-friendly booths.
In Thiruvananthapuram constituency, the women-friendly polling stations are booth no. 94 at Tamil HSS, Chalai, booth no.71 at Government Cotton Hill MGHSS, booth no.30 at Government UPS, Palkulangara, booth no.64 at Government Fort UP School, booth no.48 at St. Joseph’s High School, booth no.106 at Central HS, Attakulangara, booth no.128 at Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Manacaud, and booth no.86 at Government Model HS LPS.
In the Nemom constituency, the women-friendly polling stations are booth no.44 at Chinmaya Vidyalaya HSS, Attukal, booth no.40 at Government GHS, Karamana, booth no.75 at Government Higher Secondary School, Kamaleswaram, booth no.85 at Government UP School, Ambalathara, booth no.105 at Women’s Polytechnic, Neeramankara, booth no.62 at Thunchath Smaraka Samithi, Iranimuttom, booth no.65 at Government UPS, Konchiravila, and booth no.3 at Chinnamma Memorial GHS, Poojappura.
