This election, India’s national capital will have polling booths staffed only by women

• India’s national capital will have pink polling booths set up for Lok Sabha elections that will be staffed only by women.
  
• The move is aimed at promoting women empowerment and their abilities.
  
• As per the data by Election Commission of India, women account for less than 50% of the total voters in India.
  

Aiming women empowerment as key a factor in the upcoming general elections in the country, the poll body in India’s national capital is planning to set up several polling booths that will be solely staffed by women.

The election commission has been reportedly locating different areas for setting up such booths, said Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh on Monday. The move is aimed at empowering women capabilities, he added.

The Election Commission is chasing its mission to leave no voter behind. New Delhi accounts for seven Lok Sabha seats and 70 assembly constituencies.

New Delhi will have 13,816 polling stations at 2,696 locations along with a model polling station in each assembly. The number of stations to be manned fully by women is not yet known.

As of now, the city accounts for nearly 1390 million votes, up 200,000 from last year. To break down further, Delhi alone has 62,35,814 female voters, as per the report.

This will be the first time, New Delhi will have pink polling booth. The all-women booth has previously been established by other states such as Karnataka. In a pink polling booth, all the staff members from presiding officer to polling officers are women.

India does not even have 50% of its voters as women. According to the Election Commission, only 48.13% of the voters are women. However, women account for half the increase in the number of voters, reported Economic Times.

Separately, Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal Party recently announced 33% Lok Sabha tickets to women candidates, calling it a ‘benchmark for women empowerment.’ The polls for this Lok Sabha election will happen in Delhi on 12 May and conclude on 23 May.

See also:
Women in Politics: Odisha’s BJD says it will grant a third of Lok Sabha tickets to women
General Elections 2019: India expects over 15 million first-time voters in the 18-19 year age group