5 days Ago By Salonee Mistry
1 2 Pandals are being set up, banners are going up, and announcements have gone out – the city's housing societies , often hosts to festive events and bazaars, have opened their community halls and public spaces to host the festival of democracy. In a bid to arrest voter apathy in the upcoming assembly polls, the Election Commission of India has planned to set up 126 polling booths at co-operative housing societies across the district. This is expected to make voting accessible, especially for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, and draw more voters, young and old, to booths.
Many societies are yet to get clear guidelines about the booths, but in some areas, preparations are underway and training has begun to facilitate the exercise. "It is a great initiative. It will help senior citizens and those who are bound by time due to other commitments ensure they vote.
At Celestial Co-Operative Housing Society in Ravet, officials have completed two rounds of inspection, a pandal has been set up and we have been promised security, besides assistance for residents to ensure they are not inconvenienced," said the society's chairperson Prajakta Rudrawar. She expects some restrictions on parking and vehicular movement on Nov 20, the voting day, but shrugged it off as a minor inconvenience. The exercise would be a first for assembly elections in the state.
During the Lok Sabha elections, only 150 housing societies across the state had polling booths. There would be over 1,000 such booths this week. In Pune district alone, the initiative could benefit at least 1.
5 lakh voters. Sunil Shivtare, secretary of Rohan Nilay Society in Aundh, under the Shivajinagar constituency, urged citizens to take advantage of the opportunity. "The booth will be set up in our clubhouse.
Since it is a separate structure, it won't inconvenience anyone. We have in the past had corporation elections in our society, and so, are aware of the environment that will ensue," he said. Netaji Nagar Society in Wanowrie will have two polling booths — one in each room of the society office.
"Election officials have already inspected the premises. There will also be a volunteer-driven booth to aid voters near the gate," Manoj Raka from the society said. Any society with more than 800 voters residing within or around it was eligible to have a polling booth.
ECI's norms stipulated that it should also have a 250sqft built-up area besides basic provisions such as toilets. Shriram Co-Operative Housing Society, a federation of more than 50 societies in Warje, approached ECI to host a voting centre months ago. "The tent will be set up on Nov 18 and officers have already visited us to check the area," its chairman Vitthal Pasalkar said.
More awareness drives and better preparation could have helped boost the initiative further, according to some voters. "The fact that officials were still inspecting societies and training staff as late as one week before elections means that the process started late. Had they done this a little earlier, it might have given them better results.
Awareness drives informing people about this option could have made a good initiative great," Rudrawar told TOI. Two polling booths will also be set up in the clubhouse at the Blue Ridge Township in Hinjewadi. "The booths will be set up in our clubhouse, which will be very convenient for our senior citizens and differently abled residents, who had to make all kinds of arrangements and face innumerable inconveniences to go to polling booths.
We are thankful that we were granted permission as it makes the process seamless for a large number of voters," Abhishek Nandan, secretary, of Blue Ridge Unit C, in Hinjewadi said. The club house in Karishma Society in Kothrud will also become a polling station. When asked if they were worried about safety since the gated community would get many non-residents on voting day, Reshma Pimpley, the society's chairperson said, "Polling stations usually have adequate security wherever it is set up.
However, we will also deploy some security to make it easy for voters and that residents of the society are not inconvenienced." The initiative would be a relief for senior citizens and persons with disabilities who would have otherwise had to travel to cast their vote. It has also excited first-time voters, Warje's Pasalkar pointed out.
"The only thing we would ensure for next time is that all people in this area have their names in centres close to their homes. For the last two months, we spoke to all residents whose name were not in the electoral roll the last time and helped them get it on the list. Without casting our vote, we cannot complain about the aftermath.
" _______________________ Earlier this year, when we learned that housing societies can have their own voting booth, we approached the Election Commission for our township. We are excited that we are one of the five housing societies in Bhor taluka and only one in Hinjewadi to host two polling booths. A trusted team of senior citizens is now guiding the residents to vote in large numbers and participate in this process of democracy — Abhishek Nandan | secretary, Blue Ridge Township Unit C, Hinjewadi In Warje, there is usually a lot of confusion due to names being removed from the list or moved from one centre to another.
Since we were sanctioned to be the host, we started awareness drives with all families in Warje's societies. We visited each household to ensure they vote. Voting is not only a right but also a responsibility — Vitthal Pasalkar | Chairman, Shriram co-op hsg soc, Warje (With inputs from Aditi Shekar).
