MUMBAI: A separate voting booth will be set up outside the premises and precincts of the Vidhan Bhavan to enable the 12 suspended BJP MLAs to exercise their voting rights in the October 4 Rajya Sabha by-election.
The returning officer early this month submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) the need for a separate polling station for casting of votes by the 12 suspended members as they had been barred from entering the Vidhan Bhavan for a year.
The MLAs were suspended after the state government accused them of misbehaving with the presiding officer in the speaker’s chamber. The assembly passed a resolution by a majority vote for their suspension.
The ECI directed that a separate polling party as well as a separate ballot box along with requisite number of ballot papers for the electors be arranged. The polling station will be open from 9 am to 4 pm even if all MLAs cast their vote before 4 pm.
After the close of polling, the ballot box will betaken to the counting centre under security and counting of votes is to be taken up only after mixing these ballot papers with the rest of the ballot papers from the main polling booth.
