Duty-bound officers go voteless

NEW DELHI, February 26: In a petition submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill on Tuesday a request was made by a polling offic...

NEW DELHI, February 26: In a petition submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill on Tuesday a request was made by a polling officer to defer the day of counting as most of the 60,000 polling officers on poll duty on February 16 in the Capital were unable to cast their vote.

There were 9,104 polling booths each with at least six civilian officers on poll duty. “Our polling duty was from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and those officers who were stationed in far off polling stations, like myself, had to leave at 6 a.m. and returned after the polling hours were over,” said the petitioner J.P. Gupt, a resident of Rohini, who was on polling duty in Malviya Nagar.

“There is a provision for a postal ballot but due to shortage of time the formalities could not be completed. The assistant returning officer of South Delhi had written for my postal ballot to be sent from Outer Delhi but it never reached,” Gupt said. Gupt, who works as a senior stores superintendent, has asked in his petition that he be allowed tocast his vote and the counting of votes be deferred till this task is over.

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Another polling officer, who was unable to cast his vote as the postal ballot paper could not reach him, says, “I reside in Shalimar Bagh and my duty was in a polling booth in South Delhi which left me with no time to cast my ballot,” on conditions of anonymity.

Election duty certificates are given out to polling officers on the basis of which they can cast a vote by postal ballot, said chief electoral officer (CEO) OP Kelkar. “There is no question of the polling officers not being able to cast their ballot as provisions had been made for them in accordance with their duty specifications,” added Kelkar.

“Due to shortage of time the postal ballot paper could not reach us,” said another polling officer.

The CEO has recruited 60,000 poll personnel for manning polling booths on