4.92 crore electors, including 11.32 lakh first-time voters in Gujarat

As many as 492 crore persons including 1132 lakh firsttimers and 10322 centenarians will be eligible to exercise their franchise for the 26 seats in Gujarat in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 a senior Election Commission official has said reported news agency PTIElections to all the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies and bypolls to five assembly seats in Gujarat will be held on May 7 with the nomination process beginning on April 12 Chief Electoral Officer CEO P Bharathi said on Saturday reported PTIOf the total registered voters 254 crore are men and 239 crore are women The state has 1503 transgender voters Bharathi saidThe number of voters for the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat has increased by 4323789 compared to the 2019 elections A total 49449469 voters are registered as per the final electoral roll published on January 5 2024 Bharathi told mediapersons reported PTIThe State Election Commission is fully prepared to hold the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat and elaborate arrangements have been made in connection with the electoral rolls EVMs electronic voting machines and polling stations said the CEO reported PTISpecial planning has been made to ensure a seamless and pleasant voting experience at polling stations she saidThe official said that 87042 Ballot Units BU 71682 Control Units CU of EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail VVPAT machines will be used across 29568 polling stations reported PTIThe process to provide voter cards to more than 165 lakh persons who applied for inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls after the third week of September 2023 is being done expeditiously she saidEach of the 182 assembly seats in the state will have a model polling station which will be decorated for the occasion with selfie booths Bharathi said adding these booths will have facilities for parking and seating reported PTIThe CEO said 1274 polling stations seven per assembly seats will be set up as sakhi matdan mathak and will be managed entirely by women officials reported PTIOne polling station in each assembly constituency will be managed by differentlyabled individuals while youth will take care of one such centre in every district she saidOn the election day live webcasting will be conducted in around 25000 polling stations across Gujarat she said reported PTIVoters aged 85 and above and people with more than 40 per cent disability will be allowed to cast their ballot from home she saidA total of 45 lakh personnel including state and central government employees will be deployed for electionrelated tasks Of these more than 167 lakh are polling officers Bharathi said reported PTIMore than 12 lakh police personnel will be deployed during the elections she saidMeasures are in place to ensure seamless implementation of the Model Code of Conduct MCC the official saidAn arrangement has been made to take fast action to quickly address complaints regarding serious violation of the MCC and breach of law and order and daily reports will be submitted to the Election Commission of India she added reported PTIThe Lok Sabha elections 2024 in the country will be held in seven phases spread over 44 days starting April 19 Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on SaturdayAnnouncing the Lok Sabha elections 2024 schedule to elect the 543member Lok Sabha he said that more than 97 crore persons 497 crore male and 471 crore female are eligible to cast their votes across 105 lakh polling booths in the countryWith inputs from PTI