DEO Kolkata South to arrange for poll booths in high-rise premises
Kolkata: Due to less voting in the urban areas, the office of the District Electoral Officer (DEO), Kolkata South is making arrangements of polling booths within the premises of high-rises from the next elections after this Lok Sabha.
“The voting percentage in Kolkata is less than that of the districts because of urban apathy. This holds true for any urban area in the country. The residents of the highrise buildings do not venture outside their respective apartment premises to go to the nearest polling booth for casting their franchise. We will be holding talks with the resident welfare associations of such high-rises so we can use the community centres in such buildings as polling booths. We are hopeful that implementation of this move will overcome the urban apathy to a reasonable extent. The changing of booths is a time consuming exercise so we are trying to bring this in effect from the following elections,” Rashmi Kamal, DEO (District Election Officer), Kolkata South said. She added that a good number of such highrises are like a village with 1,000 odd voters.
In the four Assembly constituencies (ACs) that come under Kolkata South DEO jurisdiction, the voting percentage in 2019 Lok Sabha polls was around 65 per cent. It deteriorated further in the 2021 Assembly polls when voting was held amid Covid pandemic. In 2019, Kolkata Port, Bhowanipore, Rashbehari and Ballygunge had voting percentage of 64.83, 67.75, 68.09 and 66.96 respectively. In 2021, the percentage in these four ACs were 64.41, 61.36, 59.70 and 60.71, respectively.
The DEO, Kolkata South on Monday introduced tabla maestro Tanmoy Bose as its SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) icon and painter Kalam Patua along with a mascot named ‘Babumoshai’ designed by him.
The total number of electors in Kolkata South are 8,96,493 among which 4,77,484 are males and 41,986 females.The electors aged over 85 are around 12,000 while those between 18-19 years are 7,670.
