NEW DELHI, Oct 29: In a bid to shorten voting queues, the 12 states and union territories that will undergo special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls next week will see more polling stations once the exercise is completed.
Bihar, where the voters’ list clean-up exercise has already concluded, has become the first state in the country where every polling station has a maximum of 1,200 electors against 1,500 earlier.
The rationalisation exercise will mean that the 12 states and UTs will have more polling stations, on the lines of Bihar, where the number has gone up to 90,712 from 77,895 earlier.
The rationalisation would mean voters will have to spend less time in queues while waiting for their turn to exercise their franchise.
According to its instructions to the chief electoral officers of the states and UTs where the SIR exercise will commence on November 4, new polling stations are to be set up in high-rise buildings, colonies with resident welfare associations and slum clusters.
District election officers will consult political parties on setting up new polling stations.
EC has directed that special care be taken to keep all members of one family in one polling station.
The states and Union Territories where SIR will be undertaken are: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The EC had been working to ensure voters do not have to travel beyond 2 km to reach polling stations wherever possible.
Polling stations were set up in high-rise buildings and societies in recent elections to ensure greater voter participation. (PTI)
