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| Reasi district gets 53 'No Queues' Model Polling Stations | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu , Apr 14: Over 50 model polling stations have been established in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, equipped with the best facilities to encourage voter turnout."To increase the turnout and make voting a pleasant experience 53 model polling stations have been established in Reasi district of J&K", District Development Commissioner, Reasi said.
"We have established model polling stations with 16 different facilities. There will be no queue in these polling stations. Moreover all the 301 polling stations in the district will have no women queues at all. PS have been equipped with tokens for female voters and will have seating arrangements".
This move is aimed at encouraging voting among the 94,000 women voters in the district.
He said that each polling station had been provided with a flat screen television set equipped with a DTH connection for entertainment. More than 10 cultural troupes will perform live for the voters, too.
Services like drinking water bottles and refreshments and first-aid centres, live entertainment, help desks and special facilities for the differently-abled and aged voters will be available at the model polling stations.
Voters will also be given a red carpet welcome, with decorated tents, new furniture he said, adding it took more than 6 months to set up these model stations
The district, which is part of the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, has 301 Polling Stations with 1.94 lakh voters. It goes to polls on April 17.
Besides, there are 44 hyper-sensitive polling stations and 177 sensitive polling stations in the district, the DC said.
District Reasi has three assembly constituencies of Gulabgarh, Gool-Arnas and Reasi.
The district had recorded a dismal 43 per cent turnout in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, with a meager 32 per cent eligible women voting.
Under Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) more than 1200 awareness camps have been organised in 6 months. These model polling stations are the culmination of campaigns to lead voters from homes to polling booths, he added "In more than 30 polling stations the women turnout remained less than 1 per cent. Awareness and enrolment drive started in September last has recorded an increase of 16 per cent voters in the district with addition of 14000 women and 12000 women, at the same time deletion of 3200 duplicate voters", he said.
A serious challenge faced by the district administration is the migration of the nomadic Bakkerwals and Gujjars along with their livestock which is a major factor in the low voter turnout, he added.
Comprising more than 32 per cent of the electorate, the tribal nomads have also been roped in through a 'Jirga' campaign of electoral awareness and participation under SVEEP, he added.
The response has been encouraging with a decision taken to delay migration in many nomadic hamlets. For these nomads special veterinary camps have been planned immediately after polling day.
The District Election Officer also said that more than 100 odd activities to do with increasing electoral awareness and participation are currently active under 34 different campaigns in the district targeting particular groups and he hoped that the voter turnout will rise. The lack of local candidates from the district however remained a factor. |
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