15.2 mn voters to exercise their franchise at 13,641 booths in Delhi: CEO

Ahead of the polling in the National Capital on May 25, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer P. Krishnamurthy said on Thursday that there are a total of 13,641 polling stations with a total of 162 candidates contesting on seven seats.

Krishnamurthy told ANI that all the preparations are in place ahead of the voting day.

"There are a total of 13,641 polling stations in Delhi. We also keep some machinery in reserve to avoid any technical problems. The final contesting candidates in Delhi are 162 on 7 seats. There are 1 crore 52 lakh voters in Delhi, out of which 82 lakhs are male voters and 70 lakh are female voters. Transgender votes are around 1,230 and first-time voters are around 2,52,000," he said.

He further said that more than one lakh employees have been deployed for polling duty.

"Be it polling parties, micro observers, expenditure observers, flying squads, video watching teams, all of them have been deployed to cover different areas. Everyone has been trained. All preparations have been done from the manpower side. EVMs are available in adequate quantity. The first level checking has been done," he said.
 

"After the randomization process, all of the EVMs are now stored in the strong room. Tomorrow they will be taken out and given to the polling parties. All polling parties will reach their locations a day before. Arrangements for his residence have also been made. All preparations have been made for the entire elements for the election," the CEO of Delhi added.

Reiterating that double voting chances are less, the CEO said that all adequate steps have been taken to avoid these kinds of incidents.

"When a voter goes to vote, the first thing he has to use to show his identity. It can be the Voter ID or 12 other documents as per the commission directives. Polling agents can challenge his identity, hence the photo is matched with the ID card. The chances of such incidents happening are very low," he emphasized.

Responding to the preparations amid the heatwave, CEO Krishnamurthy said they had held meetings with different stakeholders to avoid any mishappening.

"IMD has predicted that heatwave may now become severe. In its recent bulletin, it said that the temperature could be 44 degrees on May 25. We have been preparing for the last 2-3 weeks to avoid a heatwave. We have held meetings with NDMC, MCD and various stakeholders. A meeting has also been held with the Health and Family Department and Delhi Jal Board," he said.

"There will also be a shaded area and waiting area in every polling station. The queue outside the stations will also be covered so that people can be protected from the sun. There will be a cooler or mist fan in every shaded area so that the temperature remains cool. Most of our polling stations are in schools so that there will be facilities for drinking water. Everywhere there are water coolers, RO and Delhi Jal Board taps to ensure water supply is available," the Delhi CEO added.

P Krishnamurthy also mentioned that various organizations have come forward to motivate voters.

"In this election, some organizers are volunteering to motivate the voters. Rapido company told us that they wanted to give free bike rides on the day of voting, so we accepted their proposal. They can drop voters after voting only so that voters cannot be influenced while they are coming to polling stations. Food aggregators have also come up with a scheme where voters can avail of additional discounts by showing their linked fingers. Traders Association is announcing discounts in different markets of Delhi," he said.