HYDERABAD: With as many as 135 polling station locations disappearing due to demolitions, making way for new building constructions, or becoming old and dilapidated and unfit for usage, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has given its approval to the proposals submitted by the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for changing polling station locations to ensure that voters do not have any difficulty in exercising their vote.
The CEO has given a green signal to change the nomenclature of 762 polling stations in the State. In view of the increase in voters, mostly in urban areas, as many as 299 auxiliary polling stations have been identified in the State for the upcoming polls.
The auxiliary polling stations are created where the maximum number of voters in a polling area exceeds the prescribed limit. These polling stations are provided by bifurcating the existing polling station. It is worth mentioning that Telangana has 35,655 polling stations across the State.
The election authorities told TNIE that all the district electoral officers (DEOs) have been issued instructions to take necessary action to the extent of ECI’s approval in respect of change of location, change of nomenclature, and creation of auxiliary polling stations. Further, the DEOs have been told to create awareness among voters regarding the changes.
Authorities said that building locations have been changed from the previous 2018 polls as buildings either may have been demolished to make way for new constructions or some of them may have become dilapidated and are not suitable for polling purposes or some owners may have sold such buildings to other persons and may have locked some of those buildings.