Mumbai: With Maharashtra voting in a single phase on October 21, the Election Commission will be seeking adequate forces to ensure smooth conduct of elections in close to 2,700 sensitive polling booths — mostly in Aurangabad, Amaravati, Mumbai, Thane and Pune — across the state.
According to sources, close to 350 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), and 1.43 lakh police personnel have been sought from the Centre. Besides, three helicopters and two speedboats are also likely to be deployed, sources added.
Addressing a press meet in Mantralaya on Saturday, chief electoral officer (CEO) of Maharashtra, Baldev Singh, said that the enrolment of new names in the voter list will continue till October 4 — the last date of filing nomination papers.
The state election body said that 8,94,46,211 voters would exercise their franchise in the Assembly election. Out of these, 4,67,37,841 are male voters and 4,27,5,777 are female voters. The remaining 2,593 are third gender voters.
Mr. Singh said the number of voters has increased by 59,17,901, compared to the 2014 Assembly elections.
The chief electoral officer said that there would be 96,654 polling stations in Maharashtra. In 2014, there were 91,329 polling stations across the state.
The chief electoral officer said that 1.80 lakh ballot units, 1.30 lakh control units and 1.35 lakh VVPATs would be used for Assembly election, adding that nearly '850 crore would be spent on conducting the polls.
It is to be note that the Government of Maharashtra had earmarked Rs 913 crore for the Assembly election earlier this year.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced poll dates for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly and the 90-member Haryana Assembly.
The counting of votes in both states will take place on October 24 — three days after the voting. The term of the outgoing Maharashtra Assembly ends on November 8.
