21 October,2019 07:25 AM IST | Mumbai | A correspondent
A polling official said on an average about 40-50 children were taken care of at each polling booth during the Lok Sabha elections. Pic/Getty Images
With the idea of crèches at polling booths turning out to be extremely beneficial for women voters in the city during the Lok Sabha elections, the state election commission has not only decided to keep the facility open for the assembly elections but have more of it this time. About 1,547 crèches will be provided in 36 constituencies of the city and suburban district and 3,351 anganwadi sevikas will be deployed for further assistance.
As per data, of the total 96 lakh voters in the city, 46 lakh are women. To promote voting among them, the election commission introduced sakhi polling booths and crèche facility during the Lok Sabha elections. After getting a good response, they decided to enhance the facility for the assembly elections.
Though the election commission office doesn't have an exact figure regarding the usage of the facility, an official said on an average about 40-50 children were taken care of at every polling booth during the LS elections.
Malad resident Aasha Mane, who had availed the facility, said, "I was there at the polling booth for around 30 minutes and had kept my son at the crèche. It was a win-win situation." Ten assembly constituencies in the city from Colaba to Mahim/Sion will have 521 crèches, while there will be 1,026 creches in 26 assembly constituencies of the suburban district.
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Speaking to mid-day, SVEEP nodal officer and collector Sonali Mulye, said, "Each crèche will have at least one anganwadi sevika. We will provide more sevikas depending on the number of booths in each polling centre." She further said that even toys, dry food and water would be provided to children. To ensure security and safety of children, their names would be registered at the crèches and cops would be deployed outside.
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