[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 18 Apr: Women officials will manage 150 polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh, which goes to simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls on Friday. There are 2,226 polling stations across the state.
In East Kameng district, 7 polling stations will be managed by the women’s team. District electoral officer Sachin Rana informed that these all-women polling stations will represent the cultural themes of East Kameng and Arunachal Pradesh.
“Sixty-four women were trained to perform polling duties ranging from presiding officers to polling officers. They will be on duty on voting day. It’s a source of pride for the administration to have them aboard,” said DEO Rana
In another unique initiative aimed at boosting the polling percentage in Siang district, the district election machinery has set up an all-women ‘pink’ polling booth for the simultaneous elections. The polling station at 18-Babuk in Kebang Circle of Siang district is fully decorated with posters, a selfie kiosk, a drinking water facility, a wheelchair, and a ramp for disabled voters, along with candies to greet voters on polling day. The Sakhi booth, also known as the pink polling booth, will be managed by an all-women team, presided over by Dr. Opang Tatin along with Niyang Pertin, Oman Mingki, Cheenang Pertin and Dibit Tatak as polling officers.
Cheenang Pertin informed that initiatives such as celebrating the ‘first voter,’ a cake-cutting ceremony with the community and gifts for voting mothers with newborn babies have been taken up to truly celebrate the festival of democracy and encourage as many voters, especially, women to vote.
The 18-Babuk polling station is set to serve its 93 voters, consisting of 47 female and 46 male voters. Siang district has a total of 26,928 voters for 32-Rumgong (ST) AC and 35-Pangin (ST) AC, with 13,632 female voters and 13,233 male voters.
According to chief electoral officer Pawan Kumar Sain more than 1,000 women officers and officials have been deployed across the 150 stations to facilitate the electoral process, with women security personnel also stationed for assistance.
