Lok Sabha Elections.. Polling for 2nd phase today
   Date :26-Apr-2024

Lok Sabha Elections 
 
 
 
The Hitavada Team
 
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 will be held on Friday. While elections will be held for eight seats in Maharashtra, they include five from Vidarbha namely Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Wardha and Washim-Yavatmal constituencies. And the election machinery, including local and police administration, is all set to execute the biggest democratic exercise of the world. Apart from the constituencies in Vidarbha, election will also be held in Nanded, Hingoli and Parbhani in the State on Friday.
 
AMRAVATI: The district administration has made all necessary arrangements for smooth conduct of the election on Friday. Polling will begin at 7 am and shall conclude at 6 pm. The Amravati constituency has 18,36,078 voters and 1,983 polling stations in 6 Assembly segments, informed by Saurabh Katiyar, District Collector, at a press conference here on Thursday. The Amravati Lok Sabha constituency has 9,44,213 male, 8,91,780 female and 85 transgender voters. These total voters includes 3,38,079 voters from Badnera Assembly segment, 3,46,416 from Amravati, 2,84,256 from Teosa, 2,99,620 from Daryapur, 2,86,890 from Melghat and 2,80,817 voters from Achalpur Assembly constituency. There are 13,408 divyang voters in the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency and special arrangements have been made for them so that they can exercise their franchise in a comfortable manner, said Katiyar.
 
Further, the 1,983 polling stations include 337 in Badnera Assembly constituency, 322 polling stations including 8 auxiliary from Amravati Assembly constituency, 319 from Teosa, 342 from Daryapur, 354 from Melghat and 309 from Achalpur Assembly constituency. The AMC Pre-Secondary School, Navsari, Amravati polling station has maximum number of voters-1,535 while Zilla Parishad Primary School, Pili in Melghat has only 7 voters. The highest number of polling stations in the district, 354, ae in Melghat Assembly constituency and the lowest number -309-in Achalpur constituency. There are 337 polling stations in Badnera, 322 in Amravati ,319 in Teosa and 342 in Daryapur. All six Assembly constituencies of the district will have one polling station (pink booth) which will be looked after by women, one by divyang staffers adn one youth officer-employee polling station. Further, special attention is being paid to sensitive centers. Total 993 polling booths will be monitored through web casting. The district administration and election machinery is all set to conduct the election process in a fearless, fair and peaceful environment, said Katiyar as he appealed voters to exercise their franchise to strengthen democracy. Navinchandra Reddy, Commissioner of Police and Vishal Anand, Superintendent of Police, were also present for the press conference.
 
AKOLA: To vote is every Indian citizen’s constitutional right and so every eligible citizen should participate in the process, said Akola Collector Ajit Kumbhar at press conference held in his office on Thursday. The Akola Parliamentary constituency includes six Legislative Assembly constituencies namely 28-Akot, 29-Balapur, 30-Akola(West), 31-Akola(East), 32-Murtijapur and 33- Risod which is in Washim district. It has 18,90,814 voters including 9,77,500 men and 9,13,269 women who are expected to exercise their franchise at 2,056 polling stations. Kumbhar shared the extensive preparations made by district administration for free and fair election. Following the direction of the Chief Election Commission, special drives were launched to distribute voters slips to voters and 98 percent voters are distributed voters’ slips till April 21, he said.
 
“Total 2,286 election squads have been deployed at 2056 polling booths. Seven polling stations will be looked after by women booth officers and employees, seven by young booth officers and six by divyang booth officers and employees. Similarly, a room in polling station no 184 in Akola East Legislative Assembly Constituency will be exclusively for transgenders,” informed the Collector. In view to provide relief of long queues, number tokens will be provided to voters and seating arrangements have been made at the polling booths. Similarly, medical kits are made available and paramedical staff have also been appointed.  Briefing further, collector Kumbhar informed that if any polling booth has registered more than 75 percent of voting, the block level officer (BLO) of that booth will be felicitated with ‘Champion of Democracy’ award.
BULDHANA: In line with the election for Buldhana Lok Sabha seat, total 270 MSRTC buses were reserved in the district for election work. The buses left for for election work on Thursday morning itself. Therefore, bus service from Buldhana Depot remained largely hit on Thursday and shall remain so on Friday as well. The number of buses reserved for election duty in various depots is: Buldhana -42, Chikhli -39, Khamgaon -31, Mehkar -86, Jalgaon Jamod -40 and Malkapur -32.
 
PUSAD: There are 337 polling stations in Pusad Assembly constituency and around 2,500 employees will look after the election process. The polling teams left for their designated booths on Thursday. The teams were provided with EVMs, V-VPATs and other polling station material. A grand pavilion was erected on Yashwant Ground in Pusad from where the teams departed for their destination. It may be mentioned here that 36 ST buses, 6 mini buses and 20 jeeps were arranged for polling officers which started departures from 5.15 am on Thursday.
 
As the summer scorch is high, Ashish Bijwal, Assistant Returning Officer and Sub Divisional Officer, Pusad, has appealed voters to reach the polling booths in early morning hours itself to avoid the sun. Voting beings at 7 am. “Facilities such as shade, drinking water, first-aid etc will be provided at the polling stations. Citizens should exercise their right to vote without fear. Participate in voting process to increase voter turnout,” Bijwal appealed.