Puducherry, where women voters outnumber men, ready for election, special facilities for PwD voters

New Delhi [India], April 13 (ANI): The Union Territory of Puducherry, where female voters outnumber male voters, is ready to go for election on April 19 and as a part of the model polling station, special facilities will be given to disabled people like transportation and voting from home.

District Election Officer cum District Collector A Kulothungan said, “In the Puducherry Parliamentary Constituency, we have 10,23,699 voters, including 5,42,979 female voters and 4,80,569 male voters. Therefore we have more female voters than male voters. We have 151 transgender voters. We have made preparations for the polling process on April 19 and the EVM machines have been randomized properly.”

Speaking to ANI, District Collector A Kulothungan also spoke on Mahe district, situated on the Arabian Sea coast, bordering Kerala where the polling booths will be managed exclusively by women polling officials.

Puducherry, which will set a unique example of a gender-inclusive electoral process, has over 10 lakh voters. According to the final rolls, the total number of male, female and third-gender voters were 4,80,569, 5,42,979 and 151 respectively.

In Puducherry we have more women voters than male voters, DC Kulothungan said.

“There are 28 thousands of first-time voters, senior citizens 85, 831 and

disabled 13 141 voters. Specific arrangements are made to take care of women with newborns, senior citizens and disabled people. Ramp facilities are available in polling booths to give easy access to disabled people. There is one pink booth in every assembly constituency in Puducherry,” he added.

In responding to questions related to security deployment, he said, “10 CAPF teams are deployed with around 5000 local police deployed all over the constituency. There are 967 polling booths in Puducherry. Among them 232 are vulnerable booths and 30 critical polling booths are in Pondicherry for which special security arrangements are made.”

“We are providing facilities like voting from home and transportation facilities with volunteers for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Our volunteer will visit the houses of the disabled people who have opted for transportation facilities and will bring them to polling booths”, he added.

He also said that the election team will also manage social media and if they find any violation then they will take action against them and a cyber cell has been set up to take care of the social media-related issues.