Lucknow, April 27 - The Election Commission (EC) has decided to undertake an ambitious project to conduct geographic information system (GIS) mapping of all polling booths in Uttar Pradesh that will help voters locate their polling stations.

According to EC sources, a pilot project was successfully run by the commission in the state capital during the recent assembly elections. The EC has now given a go-ahead to implement the project across 70 districts and 403 assembly constituencies.

Confirming the development, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh Umesh Sinha told IANS that the GIS mapping would be synced with Google maps and would be a new milestone in "voter facilitation".

Sinha said while the project was started with the objective of assessing the vulnerability of "certain sensitive booths", now it has taken shape of a voter facilitation initiative.

The project is set to add a new dimension to the electoral process in urban areas, as it would enable voters to exactly know where their polling booths are.

Sinha said the project was being taken up on priority and would be in place before the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2014.

So far, the GIS mapping of booths has only been implemented in some areas of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi.

-- Indo-Asian News Service

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