A Pink Booth was inaugurated at Aringar Anna Government Higher Secondary School in Poonamallee Constituency on Monday on the occasion of Women’s Day. Women from the locality were presented with a short familiarisation programme about the functioning of VVPAT machines.

There are 18 booths in the school and booth number 312 has been converted into a pink booth. “One booth should not have more than 1,050 voters. Booth number 312 had more than the prescribed number, so we made this into a pink booth exclusively for women with 600 voters,” said N. Preethi Parkavi, Election Officer, Poonamallee constituency.

She said the entire room was converted into pink colour. “Right from the fans to the tumblers, everything was pink. The presiding officer and the polling officials in the booth are all women,” she said.

After the booth was inaugurated, awareness on the importance of voting was given to women from the locality and the teachers of the school. “We asked them to come with voter Id and conducted a mock voting exercise. We showed them how the VVPAT machines worked,” added another official. Every day, 50 women would be given such awareness.

Besides, to create awareness about the importance of casting vote, Ms. Parkavi has given tags to all the hotels in her limits.

“These should be tied to the food parcels which are delivered through Swiggy or Zomato. They will carry messages such as Voting Is Your Duty, If You Don’t Vote You Can’t Complain, Don’t Sell Your Vote etc. The customer will read it and this will create an awareness,” she added.

A special team of revenue inspectors and village accountant officers has been formed to ensure that all hotels follow it.