Nearly 1.05 lakh first-time voters will feature in the electoral rolls across the 26 constituencies that make up the suburban district of Mumbai. The suburban district will have 7,397 polling stations to cater to its 72.63 lakh registered voters on Monday, when the State goes to polls.
Milind Borikar, district collector, Mumbai (suburban), said, “This time, barring around 400 polling stations, all others will be on the ground floor. For this purpose, we will be erecting nearly 2,000 tents on the grounds of various schools. The centres that are on the first or second floors will be in buildings with lifts,”
Mr. Borikar said all election officials on duty will be taught how to use a fire extinguisher. At locations with nine or more booths under a tent, a fire brigade official will be present on the site.
The government has developed an app to help 7,719 persons with disabilities (PwDs) make travel arrangements from their homes to the polling stations. The district collectorate has also created a toll-free number and one official has been assigned in each constituency to listen to queries of PwDs. The numbers would be online, officials said.
Mr. Borikar said cash and jewellery worth ₹10.36 crore have been seized in 21 separate cases across constituencies. He said, “Cash worth ₹1.29 crore and gold, silver and diamond jewellery worth ₹7.65 crore was seized. We also seized 397 illegal arms, which included knives, country-made handguns and swords. Whether these were to be used for the elections is not yet known.”
The suburban district has nearly 60% of its voters living in slums. A turnout of 56.23% was recorded in the district during the Lok Sabha polls. The turnout during the 2014 Assembly elections stood at 50.16%.
Meanwhile, the State police have geared up for Assembly elections by deploying over three lakh personnel along with the Central forces, an official said on Saturday. At least three helicopters along with drones will be used in Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district, Milind Bharambe, Special Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), said.
Apart from two lakh personnel from the State police, 350 companies of the Central Industrial Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, and the Nagaland Women Police Force will also be roped in. Hundred companies of the State Reserve Police Force and around 45,000 jawans of the State Home Guards have been deployed.
