Panaji, Aug 13 (IANS): In view of the Covid pandemic, the Election Commission has set a cap of only 1,000 voters at a polling booth for the forthcoming Assembly polls, representatives of political parties were told at a meeting with the Goa Chief Electoral Officer on Friday.

CEO Kunal (who does not use his surname) also announced that voters who are 80 years old and above as well as those with disability of 40 percent and above, will be allowed to vote by postal ballot.

"Due to Covid, they have decided to cap the number of voters at polling stations to 1,000, which means additional polling stations will be created," Goa Forward party spokesperson, Durgadas Kamat, who was present at the meeting, told reporters.

There are currently more than 1,600 polling booths in the state.

Addressing reporters after the meeting, Kunal said: "In the coming election, persons with 40 per cent disability and also for senior citizens who are 80 years of age or more... there will be provision for postal ballots." Special camps would be held in the both districts to certify the disability percentage of voters, he added.

"All these provisions were explained to political parties and we requested them to appoint booth level agents for all the booths, so that for summary revision exercise, there should be complete participation and there should be meaningful dialogue at the ground," Kunal said.