GUWAHATI, March 8: Assam election districts such as Kamrup Metropolitan and Hailakandi are gearing up to woo more women voters to polling booths, come Election Day.
For its part, the Kamrup Metropolitan Election District, in a bid to encourage female voters to exercise their franchise in the Legislative Assembly election on April 6, has considered detailing 125 all-women polling booths in the district.
All the officials engaged in such booths will be women.
“This initiative towards gender equality is an attempt to boost women participation in the electoral process,” an official statement issued here on Monday said.
The Kamrup Metropolitan Election District has detailed a total of 10 polling booths in Jalukbari constituency, 65 polling booths in Guwahati (East) constituency, 20 in Guwahati (West) constituency and 30 booths in Dispur constituency.
Meanwhile, training for women presiding officers and polling officials has commenced at Kamrup Academy Higher Secondary School here from Saturday. The training will continue till March 17, 2021.
Hailakandi campaign
On the other hand, Hailakandi election authorities, in a bid to encourage more women to vote, organised an awareness programme on Monday on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
District election officer, Megh Nidhi Dahal is spearheading a campaign among the women voters to come out in large numbers to vote in the ensuing Assembly elections.
Three legislative Assembly constituencies of Hailakandi, Katlicherra and Algapur go to polls in the second phase on April 1.
Of an electorate of 4, 97,450 in the southern Assam district, 2, 37,898 comprise female voters.
“Mock demonstrations on EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPATs (voter verifiable paper audit trail) to woo more women voters of the district to the polling booths will be taken up in a big way. Every woman must pledge to vote for it is her democratic right,” Dahal said.
Besides hands-on training on EVMs and VVPATs, chunav pathsala and mock polling among women voters of the district are also in the pipeline.
The district election authorities have planned a series of programmes to spread awareness among women to ensure they register themselves as voters as well as actively participate during the election process.
“We have found that those who register are mainly male voters and youngsters. Thus, the focus is on women voters and this awareness campaign will continue before the poll day. Various organisations have volunteered to join the effort,” said an election official from the district administration.
To spearhead the voter awareness drive the election authorities are planning to rope in women from various walks of life, including Anganwadi workers, helpers, ASHA workers, self-help groups and non-government groups to reach out to women voters and ensure more participation in the forthcoming elections.
“Focus is also on enhancing the percentage of voting in areas that recorded low turnouts during the last Assembly and Parliamentary elections,” the official said.
Voter awareness meetings for persons with disabilities (PwDs) are also being lined up.