With four days to go before the elections in Burma, Hakha town in Chin State is faced with the problem of accommodating 22,969 eligible voters in only 12 polling booths set up.

“The authorities have set up only 12 polling booths for 22,969 voters in Hakha township when the Union Election Commission has set a limit of 300 voters per booth to be open from 6 am to 4 pm. Therefore, the Chin state election commission has ordered that three or four persons cast their vote at once in a booth to overcome the problem,” said Vanhu, general secretary of CNP in Hakha township.

On the question of secrecy while voting, he said that the authorities would ensure secrecy even if three or four voters vote in a booth at the same time. The Election Commission has no intention of providing more booths in Hakha town, a report said.

Regarding this matter, when Khonumthung News contact to an in-charge of USDP’s office in Hakha town, he said, “They don’t know about few polling booths in Hakha town and they put faith in Election Commission to have free and fair election.”

It is learnt that Chin political parties in Hakha town have agreed to this arrangement of the Chin state election commission because they do not have a choice and they are confident of getting people’s votes.

Meanwhile, much the same thing is happening in Kalemyo township where two lakh eligible voters have to make do with only 151 polling booths.

“It is impossible for 1200 to 1300 voters to complete casting their votes with such a small number of booths from 6 am to 4 pm in a day, even if a voter takes at least 15 minutes to cast his or her vote,” said the president of Chin Progressive Party (CPP) in Kalemyo.

Hakha Township has a population of about 47,000 people. Of which, 22,969 voters have been identified by the Election Commission as being eligible to vote in the November 7 elections.