Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Chockalingam has urged for specific steps to increase voter turnout, such as house-to-house outreach campaigns. Chockalingam spoke to media in Thane district while assessing election preparations for Thane, Kalyan, and Bhiwandi constituencies, emphasising the importance of seamless cooperation to ensure transparent and secure voting.
Elections for 13 Lok Sabha seats in north Maharashtra and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region will take place on May 20. Chockalingam emphasised the administration`s role in safeguarding democratic norms and called for a concerted effort to achieve transparent and fearless Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
He emphasised Thane district`s historically low voter turnout and proposed employing ASHA workers, Anganwadi volunteers, village sevaks, and employees of local self-government organisations to boost voting. Chockalingam also recommended having society secretaries and presidents serve as Booth Level Officers (BLO) to increase urban voting turnout, reported PTI.
According to the PTI report, Chockalingam proposed using celebrity power in social media efforts to raise voter awareness. He emphasised the importance of providing pleasant polling station facilities, such as drinking water, restrooms, wheelchair accessible, QR tags, and Google Maps, to help voters quickly identify polling stations.
Meanwhile, Thane constituency`s returning officer and Additional Collector, Manisha Jaibhaye-Dhule, said that a total of 300 people with disabilities and voters above the age of 85 chose to vote from home, with 272 voters exercising their franchise, the report added.
Maharashtra set for fifth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on May 20
Maharashtra is set to go to the polls for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on May 20.
The constituencies participating in this phase include Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Kalyan, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Thane, Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, and Mumbai South.
In the Mumbai South constituency, a fierce contest is expected between two factions of the same party, resulting in a `Sena vs Sena` battle. The Maha Vikas Aghadi has nominated two-time MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, who has successfully won this crucial seat in the past two elections under the Shiv Sena banner. In contrast, the Mahayuti alliance has fielded Yamini Jadhav, a leader from the CM Shinde-led Shiv Sena, who is currently the MLA from the Byculla assembly seat.
In the Mumbai South-Central constituency, senior UBT Sena leader Anil Desai is facing off against the sitting MP Rahul Shewale, who represents the Shiv Sena – Eknath Shinde faction. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
