Haryana gears up for Lok Sabha and assembly by-poll elections with 20,031 polling stations being set up, with 2,00,76,768 registered voters in the state, including 94,23,956 women and 467 transgender voters, cited state's Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal.
A total of 45,576 EVMs will be used in the state, with 24,039 control units and 26,040 VVPAT machines to be used, the CEO further informed.
Of the total polling stations, there are 19,812 permanent and 219 auxiliaries. While 5,470 polling stations have been set up in urban areas, 14,342 have been set up in rural areas, he said.
As many as 99 polling stations will be operated entirely by women staff. Apart from this, 96 polling stations will be manned by youth employees and 71 by PwD (Persons with Disabilities) employees, he said.
Agarwal said polling parties in the state will depart for their respective polling stations on Friday.
Foolproof security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the elections, said Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapur.
Over 35,000 police personnel and 112 companies of paramilitary forces will be deployed to ensure the smooth conduct of elections, he said.
Additionally, over 24,000 home guards will be strategically stationed throughout the region to maintain law and order, he said.
An official statement said that 300 checkpoints will be established at intra-state and inter-state borders.
"The state will have 10,343 polling locations with over 20,000 polling booths. Among these, 1,362 locations with 3,033 booths have been identified as critical and 51 booths as vulnerable, necessitating additional police presence," it said.
The statement said 418 flying squads, 415 static surveillance teams, 34 quick response teams, and 1,039 patrolling parties will also be deployed.