With rain refusing to leave state, officials forced to wrap EVMs in plastic during transportation in order to prevent damage to machines
Mumbai Suburban Collector Milind Borikar
With rain playing spoilsport on the last day of poll campaigning for the state Assembly elections, the district administration is not taking any chances with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and other election materials. According to the Mumbai suburban district administration, EVMs and other election material was wrapped in plastic during transportation to polling booths and thereafter to strong rooms at designated counting stations for every assembly segment.
Mumbai Suburban Collector, Milind Borikar said, "Plastic will be used to prevent any kind of damage to the election material. We will get only that plastic that is legally allowed for use." Borikar also mentioned that polling stations at open spaces will have waterproof tents and fire extinguishers. There are 72,63,241 eligible voters in the 26 assembly segments in Mumbai's suburbs and 7,397 polling stations have been set up for the process.
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Interestingly, the number of voters for assembly polls has risen by over one lakh since the Lok Sabha polls, held just a few months ago. "The updating of electoral rolls is a continuous process. The drive conducted by the administration urging people to get enrolled as voters is one of the reasons for the increase," Borikar explained.
As per the administration's data, there are around 1.52 lakh first-time voters in the Mumbai suburban district. Meanwhile, the district administration, along with Mumbai police, has seized 397 unlicensed weapons in the special naka bandi deployed during elections. Asked whether the weapons seized were meant for creating law and order problems during polls, the collector said, "FIRs have been lodged in all cases. Further details will be available after completion of the police investigation."
1.52 lakh
No. of first-time voters
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