Lok Sabha elections 2019: Maharashtra to have 288 all-women polling booths

In a first in Maharashtra, the state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) has directed the election machinery to introduce at least 288 polling booths staffed by only women, from presiding officers to police personnel.

Responding to the appeal by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Maharashtra poll watchdog has decided to have at least one all-women polling station in each of the 288 Assembly constituencies. Maharashtra has 1.03 lakh polling stations. Maharashtra has 4.16 crore women and 4.57 crore men voters.

After the ECI appealed to poll bodies in all states last November to introduce all-women polling stations, Rajasthan had implemented it in the Assembly elections held then. The commission has suggested the booth be called as ‘Sakhi polling booth’ or ‘Pink polling booth’. The commission has however, modified its earlier order that directed that pink-coloured clothes should be worn by staff. It has now clarified that no colour should be used that will inadvertently denote the colour of any political party.

Every booth has a staff of at least nine employees to perform election duty. “These booths should not be sensitive stations and should preferably be close to tehsil office and police stations.,” the directives state. Shirish Mohod, deputy chief electoral officer, said, “We expect the experiment to help encourage more women to participate in the process.”

First Published: Mar 28, 2019 05:11 IST