In island city, 75 of 2,537 polling stations to be set up in pandals

Mumbai: Only 75 of the total 2,537 polling stations in Mumbai City district will operate from makeshift pandals during the Maharashtra assembly elections for want of pucca buildings, a senior official said on Tuesday.During the Lok Sabha elections 336 polling stations in the city were set up in makeshift pandals. Mumbai City collector Sanjay Yadav said pandals will be used only where pucca buildings are not available.Mumbai City district, which covers the island city excluding the suburbs, has 10 assembly constituencies. To shorten the queues, the number of polling stations has been increased through "rationalisation", and 156 polling stations were shifted to high-rise buildings and 100 stations to housing societies this time, Yadav said.There are nearly 25.4 lakh voters in Mumbai City district, and of these, the highest 2.8 lakh voters are in Sion-Koliwada assembly constituency, while the lowest 2.1 lakh voters are in Wadala constituency.After the rationalisation of polling stations, officials have undertaken the ‘Know Your Polling Station' drive to make voters aware of their designated polling station, Yadav said, adding that they are sending letters to every voter, and 50% of voters are already covered.Voters can find the location of a polling station through Google map or by scanning a QR code, he said.Since the code of conduct kicked in, Yadav has received 17 complaints of violation of rules, most of them about hoardings. He said the complaints were disposed of in average 47-48 minutes against the stipulated time of 100 minutes.Ashwini Joshi, BMC additional municipal commissioner, said voters will be provided "assured minimum facilities", including drinking water, dustbins, wheeler and ramp facility and a waiting area, at every polling station. Joshi, who is also an additional district election officer, added that 60% of polling stati-ons are located either in BMC schools or other structures.Abhinay Deshmukh, additional commissioner of police, said the police have set up 30 static surveillance committees and 30 flying squads to check malpractices. PTI
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