In a first, women personnel to be deployed in over 2K polling stns

MP | 30 June 2023 10:59 PM Kolkata: For the first time the State Election Commission (SEC) is setting up polling stations which will be exclusively managed by women. There are a total of around 2,564 polling stations across the state where women polling personnel will be deployed. 

Women operated polling booths named as ‘Pink booth’ will be there in eight districts which are Murshidabad, Nadia, East Burdwan, Hooghly, Malda, Birbhum, West Burdwan, Alipurduar. Murshidabad has the highest number of polling booths that will be managed by women polling personnel. 

The figure stands at 540. SEC is going to arrange such booths in the Panchayat elections to encourage women voters to cast their votes. These booths will be decorated in pink colour. A similar initiative was taken by the commission during the civic bodies’ poll last year. Incidentally, according to the SEC, there will be around 60,070 polling stations across the state where male polling personnel will be deployed. 

South 24-Parganas has the highest number of polling stations which is 6,226. Murshidabad has 5,438 polling stations, followed by North 24-Parganas 4,532 and East Midnapore 4,128. There are around 3,933 polling stations in East Burdwan and 3,896 polling stations in Nadia, East Midnapore 3,867. 

Kalimpong and Darjeeling are the two districts which have the lowest number of polling stations. 

Darjeeling has around 514 polling stations while Kalimpong has 263 polling stations. Meanwhile, the State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha held a meeting with various stakeholders to take stock of security arrangements ahead of the Panchayat elections. 

He inquired about the deployment of forces in the districts, how the area domination was taking place. 

Later in the day, Sinha told the media that forces have been working in coordination. Around 65 companies of Central forces arrived in the state on Friday. 

Around 65,000 police deployments have also been made. State government has also given the SEC extra specialized force to conduct the election peacefully. SEC is expecting a total of around 315 companies of central forces to arrive in the state on Sunday. 

It has been waiting for the clearance of additional 485 companies of Central force by the Union Home Ministry. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/in-a-first-women-personnel-to-be-deployed-in-over-2k-polling-stns-523954