Kolkata: To assist voters in finding their own polling booth, the office of the District Election Commissioner (DEO), Kolkata North, is launching a website with all relevant details of the polling stations in north Kolkata.
“We have learnt from our experience that a voter is often not aware of the exact polling booth where he /she will have to cast their franchise. The website deokolkata.dev.5.ezhostlive.com will help locate polling booths and furnish other relevant details such as the total number of voters, male and female, in that booth etc.,” a DEO office Kolkata North official said.
There are seven Assembly constituencies under North Kolkata Parliamentary constituency: Chowrangee, Entally, Beliaghata, Shyampukur, Jorasanko, Maniktala and Cossipore-Belgachia. The total number of polling stations is 1869. The total number of voters, as per the electoral roll published on January 22, is 15,01,779. The total number of electors, above 80, is 36486. New electors are 6977 while the number of PWD (Persons with Disabilities) electors is 3174.
North Kolkata has a history of lower voter turn-out due to one fifth of the population being migrant workers. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, there was 65.76 per cent voting while in the 2021 assembly elections, held during Covid, it was 59.46 per cent.
The result of SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation) activities since 2019 has already yielded results with increase of gender ratio to 845 from 817 in 2019 as a result of effective sensitization of focused women groups in red light areas and migrant labourers of marginalized and unorganized sectors. Rejection of forms in continuous updation 2023 was 20.89 per cent which was far less than the previous year though the submission of forms increased to 12.67 per cent.
“We are holding camps in big housing complexes to include names in the electoral roll. Where entry was disallowed we wrote to the complex authorities and hosted camps. We have also reached out to the homes of specially-abled persons and assured them of support so they can take part in the electoral process,” the official said.