Message of women empowerment: Delhi to have some booths staffed only by women during LS polls

In a first for Delhi, the poll body in the city has planned to have several booths staffed only by women during the Lok Sabha elections here to send out a message of women empowerment. Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh on Monday told reporters that areas are being identified in the national capital for this purpose.

"Some of the polling stations will be manned completely by women. The purpose of this exercise to showcase their abilities and engender a sense of woman empowerment," he said. The general elections will begin on April 11 and held in seven phases till May 19, with Delhi going to polls on May 12.

Delhi has seven Lok Sabha seats and 70 assembly constituencies. Singh said a total of 13,816 polling stations will be established at 2,696 locations, with a model polling station in each assembly constituency.

There are nearly 1.39 crore voters in the electoral roll of the national capital till date, an increase of nearly two lakh from the corresponding figure on January 18 this year. In total, there are 76,61,680 male, 62,35,814 female and 647 third-gender voters in the city, Singh said.

"For Delhi, this would be a first such initiative to have all-women booths," Singh told reporters. Outside Delhi, 'pink polling booths' have been used in other elections, such as the Karnataka polls last year.

These special booths have all-women staff, including presiding officers, polling officers, micro observers and security personnel. Such booths are aimed at empowering women and increasing their participation in the electoral process, officials said.

(With inputs from agencies.)