Pune: At least 1,181 polling booths will be set up in housing societies and highrise buildings in Maharashtra, primarily in Mumbai, Thane and Pune district, in the ECI's bid to arrest urban voter apathy in the upcoming assembly polls , data shared by election officials has revealed. The officials said 492 polling booths would be set up in the Mumbai suburban areas, followed by 337 in Thane, 256 in Mumbai city and 126 in Pune district. State election officials said only 150 housing societies had polling booths during the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra.
"The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stressed on assured minimum facilities at all polling booths. In coordination with housing societies and their federations, we have readied the list of polling booths on the society premises. The housing federations' response to the initiative has been good so far," a senior election official said.
State housing federation members told TOI that they had sent out emails to many housing societies after the Lok Sabha election seeking their consent for setting up the polling booths on their premises. One of the housing societies in Pune that had allowed polling booths on its premises during the Lok Sabha election said while the initiative was good, the election officials should ensure that all the voters staying in the housing complex were listed at the polling booth within the premises. "There should be a mechanism to check and ensure that the voters are listed at the same booth," a re.