Live webcast of 1400 polling booths to be held in Maharashtra

In the first phase of Lok Sabha polls to be held Thursday in Maharashtra, there will be live webcast from over 1,400 polling booths. Polling will be held for Wardha, Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur and Yavatmal-Washim Lok Sabha constituencies Thursday.

A total of 116 candidates are in the fray for these seven seats, said the state's additional chief electoral officer Dilip Shinde. Some 1,30,35,000 voters will be casting votes at as many as 14,919 polling booths, he said.

"There will be live webcast (so that senior election officials can monitor the proceedings remotely) from 1,400 polling booths," he added. The highest number of candidates are in the fray for Nagpur (30), while the lowest number of candidates (five) are contesting from Gadchiroli-Chimur.

Shinde said as per the directions from the Election Commission of India, drinking water and shaded areas to protect voters from the summer heat will be arranged, and `Sakhi' polling booths (where all officials will be women) have been set up in every Assembly segment. In Amgaon, Armori, Gadchiroli, Aheri and Arjuni Morgaon areas of Gadchiroli-Chimur and Gondia, which are Naxal-affected, polling will be held between 7 am to 3 pm.

Elsewhere the polling will be conducted from 7 am to 5 pm..

(With inputs from agencies.)