In an attempt to ensure good turnout of voters and motivate the electorate to cast their votes, the Election Commission of India had adopted the innovative idea of inviting the voters to polling booths through Bulawa tolis.   The Bulawa tolis (invitation teams) will invite the people to polling stations and they will work during the remaining three phases of Lok Sabha elections ending on June 1.   The Bulawa tolis will include booth-level officers, local level ASHA and Anganwadi workers, Yuvak Mangal Dal and panchayat-level personnel.   In addition, the Bulawa tolis will be activated in the control rooms established in the district and the booths with low voting percentages in the MPS app.   It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently encouraged workers in Varanasi to increase the voting percentage through Bulawa tolis.   For the remaining three phases, the Election Commission of India has issued directives to ensure fear-free, fair and peaceful voting. The district election officers have been provided necessary guidelines for this purpose.   Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said that instructions had been given to the officials concerned to increase voter awareness activities and programmes in Lok Sabha constituencies where polling was to be held to increase voting percentage and Bulawa tolis were part of this initiative.   The chief electoral officer stressed on setting up voter assistance booths at each polling station, ensuring the presence of BLOs and the availability of voter lists. He said BLOs would not be assigned duties elsewhere; instead, they would remain on duty themselves, while their sons, husbands or relatives would not replace them. He said voters who had not received voter information slips for any reason could check their names in the available voter list at the polling station.   Polling parties and sector magistrates have been instructed not to send back voters on voting day if they did not bring their voter information slip for any reason. Voters who bring slips issued by political parties should also be allowed to vote.  Polling parties have been instructed to ensure that voters having minor differences in identification documents provided by the voter and the details mentioned in the voter list, were allowed to vote.   The chief electoral officer said that there should be proper signage regarding information about each polling booth, water facilities, toilets etc. at the entrance of the polling station. Each polling station should have at least the minimum necessary facilities available and there should be arrangements of shade for voters queuing up at the polling stations. He said there should be no disruption in power supply on the day of polling so that the voting process is not affected.   Furthermore, to protect people from heat stroke, each polling station should have paramedics and ASHA workers with enough ORS and medical kits available. The sector team should also have a paramedic available for use if needed. Additionally, all polling stations should have cool drinking water, toilets, and facilities like wheelchairs and chairs for the elderly and disabled.

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