As the talk of early election in the State is gaining momentum, the State election authority, the Chief Electoral Officer, has intensified efforts to complete rationalisation of the polling stations and other processes involved to ensure smooth conduct of polls whenever they are held.
Barring three districts — Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Sangareddy — rationalisation of polling stations is completed in all the districts and the election authority is expecting the number of polling stations to be around 34,000. This is over 3,000 polling stations higher than the previous elections. The number of polling stations was pegged at 32,204 initially, but there could be around 1,600 polling stations more because of the limitations imposed by the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines that are being introduced for the first time in the State.
Each VVPAT is programmed to record 1,400 votes in the polling stations in the urban areas and the number will be 1,200 when it comes to rural areas.
VVPAT limits
However, the election authority has decided to allow enlisting of 1,300 votes in each VVPAT so that a cushion of 100 votes is kept for including the names of newly enrolled electors. “Given the steps taken for putting up polling stations at venues closer to electors, we are anticipating that the number of polling stations will be around 34,000,” a senior official engaged in the process told The Hindu .
While officials claimed that there was no intimation so far from the Election Commission about the scope for advancing the elections, they said the CEO’s office had, however, intensified efforts to ensure that the requisite processes are completed ahead of schedule so that the election authority is prepared for elections. The election authorities are estimating that they would require services of more than 2 lakh staff in the event of elections held for the State Assembly alone and the number could go up to 2.5 lakh in the event of simultaneous elections to Parliament and Assembly.
Machines indented
The CEO had already been intimated by the EC officials that the State would be given 84,400 electronic voting machines and an equal number of VVPATs for the next elections. The assured numbers include a cushion of 30% that would be required in the event of malfunctioning of ballot boxes or VVPATs.
Accessible booths
Senior officials said steps had been initiated to address another important aspect of the election process — accessible voting — as directed by the Election Commission enabling persons with disabilities to access to the polling stations and cast their vote without difficulties.
“More than 6,000 polling stations are found to be lacking facilities like ramps for persons with disabilities to easily enter them. The Roads & Buildings department had been asked to take up works with immediate effect and we are exploring options for putting up temporary facilities in these stations on the polling day,” the official said.
