EC's 2022 plan: 1,200 voters per booth & more | Economic Times

With Covid-19 numbers on decline, the Election Commission of India will increase the number of voters per booth to 1,200 for the upcoming assembly elections in five states against 1,000 people per booth in elections held so far since the Covid-19 outbreak.The commission will also mandate that all polling staff must be fully vaccinated by December, in time for the early 2022 polls, sourced confirmed to ET.The EC on Wednesday also asked chief electoral officers of the poll-bound states to engage with political parties on Covid-appropriate conduct during election rallies. While the norm has been to allow 1,600 voters to cast their ballot from one booth, this formula was revised by the poll panel in the 2020 Bihar assembly polls, the first election to be conducted amid the pandemic, to limit the number to 1,000 per booth. The EC has now decided to take a middle ground at 1,200 voters per booth for elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand. The reasons being, one, the Covid-19 numbers are lower now, and two, the average voter turnout is comparatively lesser in these states.The limitation on voters per booth was considered necessary in states like West Bengal and Assam where the average voter turnout has traditionally been high – well over 80% in the last few elections. In high voter-turnout areas, a restriction on number of voters queuing up at a booth was felt necessary to maintain physical distancing.However, that is not the case with poll-bound states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. UP, for instance, recorded 61% voter turnout in 2017 assembly election. The figure was 59% in the previous election. Uttarakhand had seen a 65% turnout last time while Punjab recorded a 77% turnout. This voter turnout range, officials said, indicated that booths were unlikely to see crowding unlike high voter turnout states.With a 1,200 voter per booth formula, a polling booth in UP is unlikely to see more than 750 people queue up on a voting day. This kind of number can vote with adequate social distancing, it is assessed. Manipur and Goa had recorded 69% and 83% turnouts, respectively, in 2017. However, in these states the overall population is less dense and hence social distancing maintenance is not such a problem at booths there. The review of the voter count per booth formula is also being considered keeping in mind the major scaling up of electoral machinery that is entailed when voters are limited to a 1,000 per booth.The restriction of numbers necessitates a significant increase in polling booths, security personnel, polling staff and overall law and order machinery, besides number of EVMs and VVPATs. In a state as populous as Uttar Pradesh, these numbers are expected to be staggering. Even a 1,200 voters-per-booth formula will increase the number of polling booths in UP by 25,000, EC assessments show.