Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Ratnagiri, Raigad woo fishermen, women voters

Boat rallies are being conducted to educate fishermen about voting, with school students taking part in awareness campaigns. PICS COURTESY/DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION RAJAPUR AND RAIGAD

The district administration of Ratnagiri Sindhudurg Parliamentary constituency and Raigad Parliamentary Constituency, are all geared up for the third phase of the election, falling on May 7. On Saturday, district administration officials from both these Parliamentary constituencies were busy overseeing the preparations and had a series of meetings, to ensure a large turnout of polling on May 7. Interestingly, in both these constituencies, the district administration team, in the last few weeks, have been working day on educating the masses and to ensure a decent voter turn out.

More female voters than men

The Ratnagiri Sindhudurg Parliamentary Constituency has more female voters than men, which makes it unique, amongst the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies across Maharashtra.

According to Rahul Gaikwad, Deputy Collector (Elections), Ratnagiri, "The Ratnagiri Sindhudurg Parliamentary Constituency No 46, has in all six assembly constituencies, which include, 265-Chiplun, 266-Ratnagiri, 267-Rajapur, 268-Kankavli, 269-Kudal and 270-Sawantwadi, which has a total registered electoral 14,51,630 (male 7,14,945, female 7,36,673 and transgenders 12), thereby making it highest female voters' parliamentary constituency. Also, Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are 11,938 (male 7,027 and female 4,911). And the number of first-time voters (between 18 to 19 years) 16,880 and over 26,185 elderly persons, who are above 85 years of age.

Interestingly, out of nine candidates, excluding provision of NOTA (None of the Above), the main contest will be between Aayare Rajendra Lahu of (BSP), Narayan Rane (BJP) and Vinayak Raut (UBT-Sena) in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency.

Purification of voter list

According to Gaikwad, one of the mammoth tasks undertaken by the district administration in last few months was to update the voters list and to our surprise, the overall registered voters have come down, than previous years. A good number of voters, who expired with their name's still featuring in the voter list, have been identified and cleared from the voter list. "We have a purified voter list, which will be very helpful for future reference," said the Deputy Collector.

Special rally for fishermen

As a part of the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) initiative, the district collector Ratnagiri M Devender Sing, CEO Zilla Parishad Kirtikumar Pujar and other administrative staff attached to 267-Rajapur Assembly constituency visited a fisherman colony in village Sakhari Nate, and conducted a special boat rally, requesting fishermen not to venture into the sea for fishing, before and on the day of polling.

"We have experienced in the past that fishermen, who venture into the sea for fishing during election time, miss their chance to cast their votes, as they return only after four to five days with their catch. We are confident that this time, the fishermen will turn out in large numbers," explained Gaikwad.

When asked about the last time (2019) voting percentage, Gaikwad said, "It was around 61.99 per cent and we are anticipating the voting percentage this election, should be above 75 per cent. We have also made special home voting provisions for those who had applied for home voting service, as per ECI guidelines, and special transport arrangements from home to polling booths has been done for transporting persons with disabilities (40 per cent and above)," he said.

Special polling booths

The entire Parliamentary constituency has 1,942 polling booths, of which one polling booth each in six assembly constituencies, will be manned by all women and one each polling centre will be manned by People with Disabilities (PWD). Although the weather bureau has not indicated any heatwave warning on the day of election, as precaution, sheds and adequate potable water and even district health officials are deployed.

Meanwhile in Raigad Parliamentary constituency…

On April 26, a rally was conducted under the voting awareness programme, SVEEP, by the sub-divisional office to RTO office in Pen taluka. Around 1,000 to 1,200 employees participated in the said rally. Singer Santosh Patil (Raigad Bhushan) and his colleagues participated in the rally as well.

The constituency includes - Pen, Alibagh, Shrivardhan, Mahad, Dapoli and Guhagar assembly constituencies. It has a total 16,68,372 voters (male 8,20,605, female 8,47,763, transgenders 4. And first-time voters are 17,149 (male 9,433 and female 7,716). The total number of people with disability are 8,909 (male 5,647 and female 3,262), with 2,185 polling stations, where voting will take place on May 7.