600 all-women polling booths in Karnataka for LS polls

Bengaluru, March 11 (IANS) A total of 600 polling booths of the 58,186 voting stations to be set up for the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 18 and 23 will be managed by women personnel, an election official said on Monday."As part of ensuring gender equality and constructive participation of women in the electoral process, the Commission has directed to set up 'all-women managed polling stations'," said a statement from state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar's office.In these 600 women-run booths, polling staff, police and security personnel will all be women.The state will have 58,186 voting stations for election to the 28 Lok Sabha seats in two phases -- on April 18 for 14 seats and April 23 for another 14 seats. Vote count will be held on May 23.The southern state has a total of 5.03 crore registered voters.The number of voting stations to be set up has been increased by seven per cent, from 54,265 polling booths in 2014 general elections, the statement said.
--IANS bha/nir