The State will have close to 35,000 polling stations in the coming elections to the Lok Sabha going by the enthusiastic response received to the special summary revision of electoral rolls taken up by the election authorities.
Polling was held in 32,796 polling stations, including 222 that were sanctioned after the rationalisation process was completed, spread in different parts of the State during the recently concluded Assembly elections. The authorities have decided to set up an additional 2,030 polling stations owing to significant rise in the number of electors. As against the 2.8 crore electors during the recent elections, the State will have little over 2.95 crore voters this time around.
The recent summary revision witnessed 22.22 lakh applications under different categories, including enrolment as fresh voters. While 16.99 lakh applications were received under Form 6 for enrolment as fresh voters, over 2.1 lakh applications were received for changes in address and 1.32 lakh for deletion/transposition during the drive conducted between December 26 and February 4.
The election authority had disposed of a majority of these applications resulting in about 16.5 lakh new voters being added to the existing list. “A major chunk of over 10 lakh applications are from youth who attained 18 years age by January 1 this year. Addition of new voters will now take the total electors strength to close to 3 crore,” a senior official said. The huge number of applications prompted the election authorities to locate new polling stations as the permitted number of voters per polling station is close to 1,400 in the urban areas and 1,200 in rural areas.
With the disposal of claims and objections completed on February 12, the election authority has now intensified efforts for updation of the voters data and related issues for publishing the final voters’ lists for the Lok Sabha elections by February 22. “Now voters who could not register their names can submit their applications till 10 days before the filing of nominations for Lok Sabha elections and they will be included in the lists after due verification,” the official told The Hindu .
Improving access
The authorities are also focussed on creating necessary facilities for voters, especially persons with disabilities, at 2,000 odd new polling stations in line with the Election Commission’s directive of ensuring accessible elections. The State recently bagged the national-level award for the measures it has initiated for accessible elections to the PwD.
