PANJIM: North Goa Collector Sneha Gitte, IAS on Monday said that in order to increase the participation of voters for May 7 Lok Sabha polls, special focus will be given on participation of new voters women, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and senior citizens.
Speaking to mediapersons, Gitte said that the North Goa Parliamentary constituency had seen high voter participation in 2019 Lok Sabha polls which was 76.82 per cent while polling in 20 Assembly segments of North Goa constituency had increased to 81.165 per cent in 2022 Assembly elections.
Gitte said in order to ensure that no voter is left behind, the Election Commission has taken special measures to provide postal ballot facility to persons above 85 years of age and persons having more than 40 per cent benchmark disability wherein the polling team will visit the home of the voter and he/she will be permitted to cast his/her vote at their registered address itself.
The North Goa Parliamentary constituency has 5,77,977 voters of which 2,80,260 are male and 2,97,714 are female voters. There are three transgenders and 4,955 are PWDs. There are 863 polling stations in North Goa, including 20 pink polling stations, five to be manned by PWDs, 43 model and 40 green/eco-friendly polling stations.
She said that 23 flying squads, 16 State surveillance, 12 video viewing and 20 video surveillance teams have been activated for strict compliance of model election code of conduct in force.
SP North Akshat Kaushal, IPS informed that the inter-State meeting with police officials of Belagavi district in Karnataka and Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra was held recently to take collaborative measures so as to enhance inter-State border security by involving agencies like police, excise, commercial tax and income tax for sharing insights, strategies and intelligence.to take stern action against possibility of violation of MCC by using inducements such as liquor, freebies, money and muscle power during elections.
