From M3EVMs to ethnic polling booths, many firsts in the Karnataka elections

There were many firsts in the Karnataka assembly elections that were held on Saturday.
The pink booths made its debut in Karnataka with 450 of them being set up across the state. Pink booths were first used in the Goa and Gujarat elections.

The M3 electronic voting machines too were used to the first time in the country. The M3EVMs were used on a pilot basis at the Shivajinagar, Shanthinagar and Gandhi Nagar constituencies.

An exclusive GIS Dashboard was also in place for the first time in the country. This hosted al the historical statistical election data. The Election Commission said that a poll day footfall of 60,625 is recorded in this dashboard, helps media and candidates for their election-related analyses.

Among other measures introduced were magnifying glasses which were introduced at the booths to help senior citizens and those with an impaired vision.

Chunavana, an all purpose mobile application helped people locate their polling booths. There were at least 1 lakh downloads of this application, the EC said.

The EC said 26 polling stations were manned entirely by persons with disabilities. A total of 388 polling personnel with disabilities worked across the state.

Ethnic polling booths in Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Uttara Kannada districts were introduced to cater to the tribal voters.