Lok Sabha, Phase 5 polling: Over 99 lakh from Mumbai to vote ‘

Of the total electorate, 53.46 lakh are male and 45.9 lakh are female whereas 1,039 are transgender voters. Data procured from the collector offices also show that of these, at least 1,11,275 registered citizens who fall in the bracket of 18 – 19 age group are first-time voters.

The voters will be able to exercise their franchise between 7 am and 6 pm at their designated polling booths.

This year, there are 9,904 polling stations across the city and the suburban districts. Collectively, these stations will be equipped with 16,734 ballot units alongside 9,964 VVPAT units, which is an independent system enabling a voter to verify their vote. First introduced in 2014, the VVPAT leaves behind a paper trail of the cast vote which can be traced when reports of EVM tampering emerge.

While as many as 116 candidates — including popular faces fielded by national and regional parties to independent members fighting for a cause — will be contesting on Monday, the battle in Mumbai has boiled down to the Mahayuti vs MVA showdown. Of the six constituencies, Mumbai North Central seat will see the highest number of 27 candidates battle it on Monday, followed by 21 candidates in the North West seat, Mumbai North East seat (20), Mumbai North (19), Mumbai South Central (15) and Mumbai South (14).

With the Election Commis-sion norms stating that no mobile phones can be carried within 100 metres of the polling station to maintain the sanctity of the elections, the collectorate has urged citizens not to carry their phones. More than 70,000 officials have been trained and deployed in the city and the suburbs.

While the registered voters are issued an EPIC ID card, the electorate has also been issued a list of 12 documents which will be accepted in case they have not procured their voter ID.

Meanwhile, the district collectors said they were eyeing to dispatch voter information slips to nearly 90 per cent of the registered voters till Sunday.

This year, the total electorate also comprises 21,665 persons with disabilities — for whom, the district administration is slated to provide wheelchair-friendly buses and taxi services in a bid to ferry them to and fro from their residence to the polling stations.

While volunteers have been deployed to assist the differently abled voters across polling stations, the collectorate in the suburban district will also deploy 613 rickshaws and vans across 1,106 polling stations. For the disabled voters registered on the Saksham application, the district will be providing free BEST bus services while low floor electric wheelch-air taxis have also been roped in.

The PwD voters can avail the free BEST services, by contacting on the toll-free number–1950. Details of contact persons have also been made available on the following link : http://tiny.cc/s7b5yz