Maha polls: Authorities hoping better voter turnout in Thane

With just 49 per cent of Thane's electorate exercising their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls this year, thedistrict administration is hoping for a better voter turnout in the next month's Maharashtra elections.

There was low voting in the Lok Sabha polls due to holidays and some other factors, but the Assembly elections have been scheduled on October 21, before the Diwali and school/college holidays, Thane Collector Rajesh Narvekar said.

"So we expect a better voter turnout this time in the district's 18 Assembly constituencies," he told reporters here on Wednesday.

The district administration will hold talks with residents of the villages (in Kalyan, Dombivali areas) that boycotted the Lok Sabha polls and pursue them to come out and vote this time, he said.

It will also take help of students to carry out poll awareness campaigns, he said.

This time, around 6,644 names have been deleted from the electoral rolls. These include voters who died and names which were registered multiple times, the collector said.

Tehsildars (revenue officials) have been instructed to hold camps in their respective areas to issue duplicate voter ID cards to those who lost their documents during floods in some parts of the district after heavy rains, he said.

Besides, banks have been instructed to ask their staff to have proper identity cards and documents while carrying cash to ATMs or for other purposes, he added.