Token system a big help at polling booths

Maharashtra's Borivali constituency used a token system for orderly voting, reducing crowding and ensuring discipline at polling stations.

MUMBAI: In what is a first for an election in Maharashtra, a token system was used to prevent crowding at polling booths. At the Borivali assembly constituency (No 152), which has 3,25,734 registered voters, the system was particularly helpful in the morning, when there were 50-100 voters at each polling station. The tokens ensured that only 10 people queued up at a time, while the rest were seated, waiting their turn.

Token system a big help at polling booths

As the queue moved, token numbers were called out and voters stepped forward, one behind the other, maintaining discipline. Each token bore the polling booth number, a token number, and a message asking voters to return the token to the staff inside the booth. It also bore the signature of the presiding officer on the reverse. Some polling stations also issued green tokens to senior citizens, pregnant women and physically challenged individuals.

The Borivali constituency had 321 polling stations, each one catering to more than 1,000 voters, across 55 locations. Polling officers across the constituency said the system was especially helpful between 7am and 9am, when the number of voters peaked. Later, the crowd thinned and the token system was discontinued.

The system also greatly helped maintain discipline at 6pm, when the booths stopped allowing fresh voters in. However, citizens who had turned up even minutes before 6pm were given tokens and thus allowed to cast their vote, although they had to wait beyond 6pm.

Election officials said the token system was introduced based on their experience in the Lok Sabha elections, when voters had complained of having to stand in long queues. In some places, there was also chaos due to lack of proper crowd control, especially as the 6pm deadline approached.

The direction to issue tokens was given by the Election Commission of India. “We issued 250 tokens to each polling station and instructed them to hand them out if the queues were long. This helped in crowd-management,” said Shilpa Karmarkar, deputy collector and returning officer of 152 Borivali.

And it wasn’t just tokens. Compared to the Lok Sabha elections in May, this time there were also amenities like benches and chairs, fans, and bottled water kept in the waiting area.