Lok Sabha elections: Royal polling booth with king, queen thrones set up in Shimoga Zilla Panchayat

Shimoga (Karnataka) [India], May 7 (ANI): In an innovative bid to entice voters to exercise their democratic right, the Shimoga Zilla Panchayat in Karnataka has unveiled a polling booth that has majestic thrones reserved for voters.
Mooting the idea that in a democracy citizens are the lords, the unique polling station has put up thrones for voters depicting them as Kings and Queens.
The exercise seemed to be a hit with voters who posed for pictures on the 'thrones' with crowns on their heads after casting their votes at the polling booth.
Earlier, CEC Rajiv Kumar urged people to participate in the general elections in maximum number.
In an interview with ANI, Rajiv Kumar said that the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections started two years ago.
"From preparing the border list to preparing polling stations, finding their routes, deployment of forces, finding out vulnerable booths, creating amenities at the booths--light, shade, ramps, minimum facilities...it's a tremendous exercise that started over two years ago."
Kumar said that it is essential for voters including women and youth to take part in the elections.
Speaking on the ways to ensure the maximum participation of specially-abled and elderly people in the Lok Sabha election, the CEC said there is a facility for them to cast a vote from the comfort of their home.
"We have earmarked in our electoral rolls persons with disabilities, 40 per cent and above. There is a facility for them to cast a vote from the comfort of their home, if they so desire. But our experience is that many of them want to come to the polling station. And we provide them a volunteer, we provide them with wheelchairs, and it's not a question of physical comfort that we provide, it's a question of giving them the due respect and empowerment," he said.
The polling started for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election on Tuesday.
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.'
Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats and elections in the state are being held in two phases. Voting for 14 seats concluded on April 26 and the voting in the remaining 14 seats began this morning. (ANI)