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

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 outMore female voters than menThe Ratnagiri Sindhudurg Parliamentary Constituency has more female voters than men which makes it unique amongst the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies across MaharashtraAccording to Rahul Gaikwad Deputy Collector Elections Ratnagiri ldquoThe Ratnagiri Sindhudurg Parliamentary Constituency No 46 has in all six assembly constituencies which include 265Chiplun 266Ratnagiri 267Rajapur 268Kankavli 269Kudal and 270Sawantwadi which has a total registered electoral 1451630 male 714945 female 736673 and transgenders 12 thereby making it highest female votersrsquo parliamentary constituency Also Persons with Disabilities PWD are 11938 male 7027 and female 4911 And the number of firsttime voters between 18 to 19 years 16880 and over 26185 elderly persons who are above 85 years of ageInterestingly 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 UBTSena in RatnagiriSindhudurg constituencyPurification of voter listAccording 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 namersquos still featuring in the voter list have been identified and cleared from the voter list ldquoWe have a purified voter list which will be very helpful for future referencerdquo said the Deputy CollectorSpecial rally for fishermenAs 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 267Rajapur 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 pollingldquoWe 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 numbersrdquo explained GaikwadWhen asked about the last time 2019 voting percentage Gaikwad said ldquoIt was around 6199 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 aboverdquo he saidSpecial polling boothsThe entire Parliamentary constituency has 1942 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 deployedMeanwhile in Raigad Parliamentary constituencyhellipOn April 26 a rally was conducted under the voting awareness programme SVEEP by the subdivisional office to RTO office in Pen taluka Around 1000 to 1200 employees participated in the said rally Singer Santosh Patil Raigad Bhushan and his colleagues participated in the rally as wellThe constituency includesmdash Pen Alibagh Shrivardhan Mahad Dapoli and Guhagar assembly constituencies It has a total 1668372 voters male 820605 female 847763 transgenders 4 And firsttime voters are 17149 male 9433 and female 7716 The total number of people with disability are 8909 male 5647 and female 3262 with 2185 polling stations where voting will take place on May 7