With Haryana going to vote on October 5, the Haryana Chief Election Commission’s office has set up 126 polling centres within high-rise societies in a bid to tackle voter apathy in urban areas.
In August, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar addressing a press conference, said, “In Haryana, in particular Gurgaon, Faridabad, and Sonipat, many polling booths will be shifted to multi-storey societies and slums so there is little congestion and an increased voting percentage. This is one way of handling urban apathy in the elections.”
Voters from these high-rise societies have largely applauded the move, stating that this has brought a sense of convenience to them. Dinesh Sethi, Vipul Green’s Resident Welfare Associations’ Vice President, said, “The polling booth in our society has made it easier for both senior citizens and younger voters. Many of the senior citizens are planning to go and vote during their morning walks, and for folks that are working on the day, they are happy that they won’t have to take a lot of time off in their workday to go and vote.”
In the Gurugram district four constituencies, a total of 1,172 polling stations have been set up, out of them 126 will be within housing societies, targeting urban voters mostly. High rise societies in the Pataudi Assembly Constituency will have nine booths, Badshahpur Assembly Constituency will have 71 booths, Gurgaon Assembly Constituency will have 42 booths, and Sohna Assembly Constituency will have four booths.
First-time voter Nitish Gupta in the Gurgaon Constituency said, “There will be no parking issues, since it is within my society, many who are concerned about long lines and hygiene of the voting booths will not have trouble either, facilities like water and air-conditioning will also be available.”
A senior citizen from the Pataudi Constituency said, “People in my society have made arrangements for refreshments and chairs. Earlier, our polling booth was in a remote location, parking spaces was a problem, then standing in the heat waiting for turn was also an issue because of all this, I did not vote in the last Assembly election as I have trouble in standing for too long but with the easy access, I will vote this year.”
This exercise was started during the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Gurugram. 52 polling booths, specially set up inside high-rise housing societies in city, which recorded low voter turnout in the last polls recorded a jump of over 10% in polling this year.
Published - October 04, 2024 09:07 pm IST
