UP CEO issues booth arrangement instructions as 15 poll staff pass away due to heat

Lucknow: After at least fifteen poll workers in Uttar Pradesh passed away on Friday due to heat-related illnesses, the chief electoral officer of the state requested that district officials make the required preparations at every voting place to shield workers and voters from the intense heat. Thirteen poll workers deployed in the Mirzapur district passed away as a result of high fever and blood pressure during the region's extreme heat.

Twenty-three others were admitted to hospital.

Two more people on election duty died and nine were taken ill of suspected heat stroke in Sonbhadra district, a senior official said on Friday.

In a statement issued here on Friday, Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said that "during the departure of polling parties on May 31, information was received about polling personnel being affected by heatwave in some districts".

Rinwa directed the district authorities to ensure polling stations have arrangements for cold drinking water, adequate shade, fans and sitting arrangements for the elderly, women and disabled.

Thirteen Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will vote in the phase of elections on Saturday.

"To protect against heatwave, adequate quantity of ORS and medical kits should be made available to paramedics and ASHA workers at every polling centre and voting place. Paramedic personnel should also be deployed along with the sector magistrate. The emergency ambulance service available in the concerned districts should be kept active so that if required, it can be easily sent to the polling centres and polling booths," Rinwa said.

The CEO also directed that special emphasis should be laid on DOs and DON'Ts to be followed by voters to protect them from heatwave.

The CEO advised the voters as well as polling personnel to wear light cotton clothes.

He advised them to keep a cap, umbrella and white cotton towel or any other cloth to cover the head to protect them from the scorching sun.

They should carry a water bottle, and use plain water, lemonade or ORS as per the need from time to time, he said.

Arrangements should also be made to provide water to the voters standing in the queue through volunteers, he said, appealing to people to reach the polling station in large numbers before temperatures start rising.

Voters must keep their voter slip, photo voter identity card and other alternative photo identity card with them so that the voting process can be completed quickly, Rinwa added.

He also directed that shops and general stores near the polling stations where bottled drinking water is available should not be closed.

With PTI inputs