THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When you arrive at your polling booth to cast your vote on April 26, don’t be surprised if all the election officials deployed are youngsters below the age of 30 years. As part of its plans to make the elections youth-friendly, the poll panel has earmarked 31 booths across the state that will be manned exclusively by young officials below the age of 30. This first-of-its-kind initiative in the state is among the many innovations the poll panel has devised for the upcoming Lok Sabha poll.
“As part of measures to make the elections inclusive, we have earmarked booths across the state managed by polling officials representing various categories,” Chief Electoral Officer-Kerala Sanjay Kaul told TNIE.
In an effort to send out a message of inclusiveness to differently-abled persons, polling personnel in the Persons with Disability (PWD) category will be managing six booths across the state. This is also a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state, the CEO said.
The state has 2.64 lakh voters in the PwD category. Even though the ‘vote at home facility’ has been provided to such categories of voters, a considerable section of them prefer to come directly to the polling booth to vote.
Another innovation the poll panel has brought out this time is the setting up of ‘ethnic booths’ in tribal, hilly and coastal areas. These polling booths will be decked up with designs unique to the place to give a homely feeling to the voters and to celebrate elections as a festival of democracy.
Also planned are ‘theme-based’ polling stations representing various themes such as coastal economy, coir industry and sports to name a few. A total of 131 polling stations across the state have been earmarked to be theme-based, election officials said.
The poll panel has also increased the number of polling booths managed exclusively by women officials to 437 this year, ensuring that a minimum number of such booths are set up in each district.
A polling booth has a presiding officer and three polling officers in addition to a policeman. Sector officers, who are in charge of 10-12 booths, will be on the move providing them assistance whenever required.
ENSURING INCLUSIVE ELECTION
Booths managed by women polling personnel - 437
Booths managed by personnel below 30 yrs - 31
Booths managed by PwD polling personnel - 6
Ethnic polling stations - 316
Theme-based polling stations - 131