HYDERABAD: With an increase in the number of electors to the tune of one lakh in Hyderabad district covering 15 Assembly constituencies as per the Second Special Summary Revision of Photo Electoral Roll with reference to January 1, 2018, as qualifying date, the number of polling stations is bound to increase by 90 to 100. These additional polling stations will be called auxiliary polling stations.
Hyderabad district, which has 3,826 polling station, will now have 3,920. In the light of voter number increasing, GHMC has undertaken a study on the need for auxiliary polling stations. The exercise was completed on Friday and the proposal would be discussed with the representatives of political parties at the GHMC’s head office on Saturday.
The ECI has decided that number of voters per polling station should not exceed 1,400 as the thermal paper roll attached to the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine cannot print more than 1,500 slips and attaching a new roll when polling is going on is a cumbersome process. Therefore, it has been decided that “maximum number of electors to be assigned to any polling station should not exceed 1,400”.
GHMC officials said as per the norms before every review of electoral rolls, polling stations should be rationalised on the basis of new voter enrolment. After the final publication of rolls, a polling station in urban area should not have more than 1,400 voters and 1,200 in the case of rural area. If the number overshoots, an auxiliary polling booth needs to be established in the same building or premises. It can be set up in a separate building due to non-availability of halls.
Telangana
Voters: 2,73,18,603
Men: 1,37,87,920
Women: 1,35,28,029
Others: 2,663
Hyderabad district
Voters as on Sept 10 before SSR: 38,61,009
Voters on Oct 12 after SSR: 39,60,706