By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Polling is going on in 88 Constituencies across 13 States/UTs. 1202 candidates (Males – 1098; Females-102; third gender – 02) were in the fray. Around 16 Crore Voters casting votes at 1.67 lakh Polling Stations spread across 88 Lok Sabha seats in 13 States-UTs on Friday.
It may be recalled that polling for 29-Betul PC in Madhya Pradesh was rescheduled in third phase due to death of a candidate from Bahujan Samaj Party. Remaining 5 phases of polls will continue till 1st of June with counting of votes scheduled on 4th June. Polling for 102 seats in phase 1 was completed in smooth and peaceful manner on 19th April.
Polling for Phase-2 of the General Elections 2024 going on since April 26 morning, for 88 Parliamentary Constituencies (General- 73; ST- 6; SC-9) in 13 States/ UTs. Voting begins at 7AM and will ends at 6 PM (Closure of Poll timings may differ PC wise)
Polling time extended till 6 PM in many polling stations in Banka, Madhepura, Khagaria and Munger constituencies in Bihar to facilitate voters in hot weather conditions.
Over 16 lakh Polling officials are welcoming over 15.88 crore voters across 1.67 lakh polling stations. Voters include 8.08 crore Male; 7.8 crore Female and 5929 Third gender electors.
34.8 lakh first time voters were registered to cast their votes. Additionally, there were 3.28 crore young voters in the age group 20-29 years.
There are over 14.78 lakh registered 85+ years old, 42,226 voters above 100 years and 14.7 lakh PwD voters for phase 2 who have been provided the option to vote from the comfort of their homes. The optional Home Voting facility is already receiving tremendous appreciation and response.
3 Helicopters, 4 Special trains and nearly 80,000 vehicles have been deployed to ferry polling and security personnel.
Webcasting will be done in more than 50 % of the polling stations along with deployment of micro-observers in all polling stations. Webcasting is being done in over 1 lakh polling stations.
251 Observers (89 General Observers, 53 Police Observers, 109 Expenditure Observers) have already reached their Constituencies days before the polls. They serve as the eyes and ears of the Commission to exercise utmost vigilance. Additionally, Special Observers have been deployed in certain states.
A total of 4553 Flying Squads, 5731 Static Surveillance Teams, 1462 Video Surveillance Teams and 844 Video Viewing Teams are keeping surveillance round the clock to strictly and swiftly deal with any form of inducement of voters.
A total of 1237 inter-state and 263 international Border check posts are keeping strict vigil on any illicit flow of liquor, drugs, cash and freebies. Strict surveillance has been kept at sea and air routes.
Voter awareness and facilitation measures have been further geared up for higher turnout of voters.
Assured Minimum Facilities like water, shed, toilets, ramps, volunteers, wheelchairs, and electricity are in place to ensure that every voter, including elderly and persons with disabilities, can cast their vote with ease. Special attention has been given to measures to deal with hot weather conditions.
Around 4195 Model polling stations are being set up across the 88 PCs with local themes. More than 4100 Polling stations will be completely managed by women including security staff and at over 640 Polling stations by Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
Polling stations in all States/UTs except Bihar and Kerala have less than 1000 average electors per polling station. Bihar it is 1008 and in Kerala it is 1102 electors per polling station.
