Over 50 model polling stations have been established in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, equipped with the best facilities to encourage the turnout.
"To increase the turnout and make voting a pleasant experience 53 model polling stations have been established in Reasi district of J~~amp;amp;K", District Development Commissioner, Reasi, Shahid Iqbal said on Monday.
"We have established model polling stations with 16 different facilities. There will be no queue in these polling stations. Moreover all the 301 polling stations in the district will have no women queues at all. PS have been equipped with tokens for female voters and will have seating arrangements", Iqbal said.
This move is aimed at encouraging 94,000 women voters of district. He said, each polling station has been provided with a flat screen television set carrying DTH dish connection for voters' entertainment and more than 10 cultural troupes will be performing live for them.
Services like drinking water bottles and refreshments and first-aid centres, live entertainment, help desks and special facilities for differently-abled and aged voters will be available at the model polling stations.
Voters will also be given a red carpet welcome, with decorated tents, new furniture he said, adding setting up of these model stations took more than 6 months. The district, which is part of the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, has 301 Polling Stations with 1.94 lakh voters and it will go to polls on April 17.
Besides, there are 44 hyper-sensitive polling stations and 177 sensitive polling stations out of the total stations in the district, DC said. District Reasi has three Assembly constituencies of Gulabgarh, Gool-Arnas and Reasi.
The district had recorded a dismal 43 per cent turnout in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections with a meagre 32 per cent women turnout. Under systematic voters education and electoral participation (SVEEP) more than 1200 awareness camps have been organised in 6 months.
These model polling stations are the culmination of campaign to lead the voters from homes to polling booths, he added "In more than 30 polling stations the women turnout remained less than 1 per cent.
Awareness and enrolment drive started in September last has recorded an increase of 16 per cent voters in the district with addition of 14000 women and 12000 women, at the same time deletion of 3200 duplicate voters", Iqbal said.
A serious challenge faced by district administration is migration of nomadic Bakkerwals and Gujjars along with their livestock which is a major factor leading to low turnout, he added.
Comprising more than 32 percent of electorate the tribal nomads have also been roped in through 'Jirga' campaign of electoral awareness and participation under SVEEP, he added.
The response has been encouraging with decision to delay migration reported from many nomadic hamlets. For these nomads special veterinary camps are planned immediately after the poll day.
District Election Officer informed that more than 100 odd activities of electoral awareness and facilitated participation are active in the district under 34 different campaigns targeting particular groups and hoped that turnout will see a rise. Lack of local candidate from district remains a factor though.
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