To ensure that the polling officers, who spend long hours under the sun living in adverse situations to conduct peaceful voting get some relief, the Dumka district administration has come up with unique initiatives. Thedistrict goes into polls under Dumka Lok Sabha constituency in the seventh phase of election on May 19.
Special provision for paid food stalls has been made for the polling officers at the dispatch and receiving area of EVMs. The polling officers can pay Rs 45 to get a regular thali and Rs 75 for deluxe thali, along with many other delicacies available at nominal rates.
Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) Varun Ranjan said, “We have made food arrangements for around 10,000 people including 5,000 polling personnel and 5,000 police personnel. The arrangement has been made to ensure that our officers do not go hungry amidst the nonstop work on polling day.”
Apart from this, Anaganwadi Sevikas and Sahiyas have been tagged to every booth, who will provide food to polling personnel during the day time in lieu of some amount. The district administration will also be arranging for tea and sherbet for the officers.
“We are also providing special charging points at all the clusters because there is usually a complaint by the officers that the phone battery drains out through the day and they are unable to contact their families,” Ranjan said.
There are a total of 1,157 booths in the district and 1891 booths in the entire Dumka constituency. Of the 1,157 booths, 55 are model booths, the primary focus of which is to enrich voting experience of the voters.
“The model booths will have waiting lounge, children corner or crèche with toys for those who come to cast their vote with children, selfie point and many other facilities,” the DDC said.
First voter to cast their vote at all the model booths will be given a certificate and a t-shirt with the slogan 'Dum Dikhao Dumka' written on it.
Special provisions for PWD (persons with disability) voters will also be available at the booths wherein there will be separate Matdata Mitra for the PWD and elderly voters.
The Dumka election 2019 mobile application is another important highlight for the elections.
The app has been prepared by students of NIT Durgapur after a competition conducted by the district administration to choose the best app developer.
“The App has a variety of facilities right from information and direction to the polling booths to details of BLOs and contact number of all important officers of the district. One can also see the SVEEP related activities conducted by the district administration and also participate in the various competitions through this app,” Ranjan said.
The application also have a number of election themed games like Ludo based on social inclusion, maze based on various election forms, snake and ladders based on good voting practices and others.