EC to set up 69,000 extra polling booths for next round of assembly polls

Officials said Covid-19 guidelines such as social distancing will be followed during the next round of elections. Provisions for masks, sanitizers, and gloves will also be made and polling time will be extended by an hour. The number of voters per booth will be limited to 1,000

The Election Commission (EC) plans to set up nearly 69,000 extra polling stations to ensure compliance with the Covid-19 protocols during the assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry this summer.

Representational Image. (File photo)

Officials said Covid-19 guidelines such as social distancing will be followed during the next round of elections. Provisions for masks, sanitizers, and gloves will also be made and polling time will be extended by an hour. The number of voters per booth will be limited to 1,000 and Covid-19 patients will be allowed to vote by post or in the last hour.

Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora and election commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar have visited the poll-bound regions to assess the preparedness for the polls likely to be completed before May end. The dates and the number of polling phases are yet to be announced.

Officials said the EC is assessing the overall preparedness before declaring the poll schedule. “The blueprint for the guidelines will remain the same as Bihar,” said an official. “The vaccination drive may have started but it will take a long time for it to reach the common public. States like Kerala are still working to bring the pandemic under control.”

Kerala, which has nearly 61,030 active Covid-19 cases and reported a rise in infections, will have 40,771 polling stations. This accounts for a 62% increase in the stations compared to last time (25,041). In West Bengal, 22,830 auxiliary polling stations will be set up, taking their number to 1,01,733. Tamil Nadu will have 93,000 or 25,000 extra polling stations. Puducherry will have 1,500 polling stations compared to 952 last time.

At least five polling officials are needed to man a booth and the EC is considering adding over 300,000 more for the elections.

Elections in West Bengal are expected to be most keenly contested as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeks to wrest power from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. The BJP is buoyed after emerging as the second biggest party in the state in the 2019 national polls.

The BJP has sought staggered elections in the state and deployment of only paramilitary forces to ensure a level playing field.

Former election commissioner VS Sampath said the EC would have made calculations based on the need for spacing. “These are all matter of calculations taking note of Covid-19...,” he said. “The country is yet to recover from Covid-19. So, it important to keep in mind the impact and mitigate its spread. The main concern will be to maintain social distancing.”