The sanitary napkins will be made available to women voters in suburban Mumbai. (File)

The Election Commission has for the first time decided to give sanitary pads to every woman coming to vote at the ''sakhi matdan kendras'' in suburban Mumbai on April 29, an official said on Wednesday.

The "goodwill gesture" is aimed at encouraging more women to come out and exercise their franchise, he said.

''Sakhi matdan kendras'', the polling booths entirely managed by women, have been set up in all 26 Assembly segments of suburban Mumbai, which consists of three administrative subdivisions - Kurla, Andheri, and Borivali, he said.

"Each woman voter at these polling booths will be given a pack of sanitary napkins as a goodwill gesture.

Besides, arrangement of cold drinks would also be made for both men and women who exercise their franchise at these booths," the official said.

Rangoli and other art forms would be used to make these booths more attractive, he said.

As per the Election Commission's directive, this time around 300 polling booths entirely managed by women were set up across all 288 Assembly segments in the state for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, additional chief electoral officer Dilip Shinde said.

Lok Sabha elections to 48 seats in Maharashtra are being held in four phases. Polling for the first three phases was held on April 11 (seven seats), April 18 (10 seats) and April 23 (14 seats).

The remaining 17 constituencies, including those in Mumbai, will go to polls in the last phase on April 29.