All polling stations to be located on ground floor: EC tells state CEO

Kolkata: In a bid to facilitate the elderly and persons with disabilities (PWD) to cast their votes during the ensuing state Assembly

elections, the Election Commission instructed the state CEO (Chief Electoral Officer) to ensure that all polling stations are located on the ground floor.

As per the final electoral roll published by the Commission recently, out of 7.33 crore electors in the state, the number of octogenarian voters are around 11.57 lakh while PWD voters are 4.54 lakh.

"The Commission is taking all measures to ensure that more and more people can take part in the election process," Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora

said.

"We have taken a conscious decision that all polling stations should be located on the ground floor. The state administration has given us an undertaking regarding such arrangement," Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora

said.Moreover, as a significant step towards COVID-19

management the commission has also made arrangements so that some category people can give their votes through postal ballot.

"There are three categories of people — people who are above 80 years, people who are suffering from COVID-19 or in quarantine and people who are physically challenged. On the day of notification field level officers will go to house and give form 12 D for consent and then on any day from the last day of nomination and a day before the election one election officer will go and give form 13A where the person will give the vote and seal it.

The entire process will be videographed," a senior ECI official said. The number of polling booths in the state have also been rationalised for proper COVID-19

management.

The total number of polling stations is 78,903 and 22,887 auxiliary booths will be created so that the number of voters in any particular booth do not go beyond 1000.

The CEC also ruled out demand from the BJP for verifying the exceptional increase of voters in certain areas.