Arunachal: All-women polling station leads gender equality drive in state

Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh is set to host an all-women-managed polling station at Babuk, Kebang circle. This landmark initiative is part of a broader campaign to empower women in governance and election management across the state.

A total of 150 polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh, where simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls are slated for Friday, will be under the adept management of women, according to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain. Over 1,000 women officers and officials have been deployed to facilitate the smooth conduct of elections, with additional women security personnel stationed for assistance.

Highlighting the unprecedented participation of women in the electoral process, CEO Sain emphasized the pivotal role played by six district election officers (DEOs) who are women. In Lower Dibang Valley district's headquarters, Roing, the deputy commissioner, superintendent of police, and a majority of polling officials are women, marking a significant milestone in gender representation in governance.

A total of 50,842 government employees have been mobilized for conducting polls across the state, with 2,073 polling teams dispatched to their designated stations. To ensure transparency and security, 864 vehicles transporting electronic voting machines and other poll materials have been equipped with GPS systems.

The Election Commission has further bolstered monitoring efforts by appointing 155 micro observers in vulnerable polling stations and deploying 417 in critical ones. Real-time monitoring through webcasting and the ENCORE (Enabling Communication on Real-time Environment) platform will be implemented in 750 polling stations, with an additional 342 stations equipped with offline webcast facilities.

The upcoming polls will witness contests for Western and Eastern parliamentary seats alongside elections in 50 assembly constituencies. Notably, the ruling BJP has already secured ten assembly seats uncontested.

Counting of votes for assembly elections is scheduled for June 2, while Lok Sabha poll results will be declared on June 4.