‘Our target is to raise the voter turnout close to 67 per cent, which is the national average’: Mumbai district collector

How are we looking towards tackling these challenges?

Despite the challenges mentioned, we have been able to successfully register 1.11 lakh new voters in the past two months within the jurisdiction of our collectorate. These applicants include first-time voters as well as people who have migrated to the island city from different parts of this country. Many of these applicants are voters from different constituencies. However, we were successful in getting them enrolled with us and now they will vote in our constituencies. Besides this, we have our own SVEEP activities (the flagship programme of Election Commission), under which we are reaching out to residentsl welfare associations, holding awareness drives at colleges and universities and putting out messages on social media as well. In some days, we will be holding public outreach programmes in the form of street plays to garner the public attention. We have also reached out to corporate offices asking them to declare a holiday or give their employees two-hour recess to cast their vote.

Mumbai also sees a problem of ‘urban apathy’. Though people register themselves to vote, not many turn up on voting day?

This is a serious issue and recently the Election Commission (EC) held a meeting to tackle this problem. We (district collectorate) will be working jointly with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai Police and other relevant authorities to ensure there is maximum voter turnout. Simultaneously, we will also rope in youth icons, sportspersons and celebrities to influence people, especially the youth to come out and vote.

Since the elections will be held during peak summer, how are you going to cater to the safety and comfort of voters?

Keeping the weather conditions in mind, we will have a waiting area in each polling booth, which will be a well-ventilated space with seating arrangements. Voters will be given token numbers after their arrival at the booth, which will make the process very smooth and cut down the waiting time. Also, this year, all the polling stations will be at the ground floor and there is no need for people to climb stairs. Alongside this, basic facilities like drinking water supply and portable toilets will be created.

Mumbai city has more than 2,500 polling booths. Do we have adequate manpower to carry out all pre-poll awareness drives and to man these booths?

Many government officials are trying to bypass the election duty orders. We are scrutinising the lists and those who are not reporting to duty despite receiving orders will face action. However, in our jurisdiction, the shortfall is not very high and we will be able to carry out the elections smoothly.