Come assembly polls, EC wants to set up a voting booth in your housing society

ECI urges cooperative housing societies in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, and Pune to apply for dedicated polling booths for Assembly polls in October

Mumbai: The Election Commission of India (EC) has appealed to cooperative housing societies in the city and neighbouring cities like Thane, Navi Mumbai, and Pune to come forward and apply for the dedicated polling booths on their premises for the Assembly polls scheduled to be held in October.

A housing complex in Chembur, (Photo by Satish Bate/Hindustan Times) (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

The societies or groups of societies with over 800 voters can apply for the dedicated booth. The ECI has taken the step to encourage voters from affluent societies in cities where the voting percentage is generally low.

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, 160 cooperative societies or their complexes in four cities, including Mumbai, Thane, and Pune had dedicated polling booths on their premises. The number in Mumbai was merely 50.

Mumbai recorded just 52.38% turnout in the Lok Sabha polls this year, against the state percentage of 61.3%. Mumbai’s posh localities like Malabar Hill, and Colaba recorded a much lower percentage than the city average.

In a letter by ECI to CEO, Maharashtra, the poll body has stated that the polling booths in societies reported substantial turnout in LS polls comparing overall percentage and thus it should be promoted further.

The office of the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra has uploaded a link to Google Forms with the appeal to the cooperative housing societies to fill them forward for the dedicated booths. “The societies with around 1,200 voters in the society or nearby societies can apply for the dedicated booth. The society premises should have a 250 square feet built-up area with basic amenities like toilets to set up such booths,” the appeal on the website (https://ceoelection.maharashtra.gov.in/ceo/) said.

“We have started the process and expect complexes to come forward or smaller societies to come together to join hands for the dedicated booth. In the Lok Sabha elections, we had 150 such booths in four cities and, this time too, we expect a good response from the societies in MMR and cities like Pune. The societies applying for the scheme should have sufficient space, normally on the ground floor, to set up the booth. A society with more than 800 voters can also be considered for the scheme,” said Manohar Parkar, joint chief electoral officer, Maharashtra said.

Once the societies fill out the form, the district-level election officials will get in touch with the societies to facilitate them with booths. Parkar said that they are getting the response and want to begin the process immediately.