Odisha To Have All-Women Managed Sakhi Booths In Areas With Low Female Voter Turnout Record

Bhubaneswar: As Odisha gears up for first phase of Lok Sabha and Assembly polls early next week, special all-women managed booths, called Sakhi booths, are being set up in areas where fewer women have voted in the previous elections.

The Sakhi booths, previously called pink booths, will not only be for women voters but will also have all women on the team executing the election process. This year, the women staff on duty at the Sakhi booths will wear Odisha handloom clothing, Times of India reported.

According to sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), besides the Sakhi booths, the other model polling booths that will be be set up include all-youth-managed and all-PWD-staff-managed polling stations.

“We are developing many model polling stations, including all women stations. The officials have been trained properly and all the arrangements made,” Ganjam Collector and District Magistrate Dibya Jyoti Parida told ANI.

The district administrations have also been instructed to make necessary arrangements to tackle emergencies that may arise due to the prevalent heat wave conditions in the state. The booths are being equipped with medical kits (ORS and other medicines) and medical and paramedical teams.

“Heatstroke rooms are also being set up in community health centers (CHCs), primary health centres (PHCs) and also at polling stations where there is enough space for it,” informed Parida.

Odisha will go to polls in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.