In a first, the Election Commission has set up five all-women polling booths called 'Sangwari' booths in various constituencies of Chhattisgarh to encourage women voters to exercise their franchise in the Assembly elections. In local dialect, 'Sangwari' means friend. The Maoist-affected Narayanpur will see three such booths, where only women will vote.
These women friendly booths are being manned by all-female staff including presiding officers, supervisors and security personnel. State Chief Electoral Officer Subrat Sahoo said that three to five Sangwari polling centres have been set up for women in every assembly segments. Chhattisgarh has about One crore 85 lakh electorates. Out of this, more than 92 lakh are females.
Such booths will be set up in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana as well. The Election Commission said the entire polling staff including the police and security personnel will be women, and added that this move is aimed at ensuring gender equality and greater constructive participation of women in the electoral process.
"As part of its firm commitment towards gender equality and greater constructive participation of women in the electoral process, the Commission has directed to set up 'All women-managed polling stations' in each assembly constituency in near future," an official of the Commission said.
Looking at the customs and social practice of some areas, the step has been taken to encourage participation of women. "The Commission has directed that in areas where women feel inhibited in mingling with male members because of some local custom or social practice, a separate polling station for women can be provided after getting approval of the Election Commission," the official added.
The Commission also elaborated that in future, if two polling stations are to be provided for a big village, one may be provided for male electors and the other for female electors.
