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On poll duty,
they could not avail their right to vote Call it dereliction on the part of the Returning Officers (ROs) or little effort on the part of the poll staff itself, majority of the government employees who were on election duty today could not avail of a chance to cast their votes. The employees were required to fill Form 12 giving detail of their votes some two weeks back so as to avail postal ballots at the place of their duty. Many ROs reportedly did not provide the requisite forms to the polling staff in time, owing to which they could not avail of the opportunity. None of the employees on poll duties at several polling stations, including Cantonment Board School, JS Memorial School Rama Mandi, Sri Guru Ravidass Training School Kishanpura, Government Schools at Gopal Nagar, Kaki Pind and Hazara Pind, said they could not cast the vote even through postal ballots. Owing to the fact that the staff was given duty away from their own constituencies, they said they did not have any contact with the ROs of the constituency they had their vote in. Government employees who got training under Jalandhar Central constituency said they were to get forms on their first day of training, but were sent back just after marking their attendance. |
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They said during the second rehearsal, the weather was bad and the training
went hodge podge, they revealed. In the third round, they said they were all of
a sudden given forms and asked to mention their voter ID number, polling
station number and other details which they did not readily have. While a few
who managed to procure details from home filled the forms, majority of them
remained unsuccessful.
Having remained on poll duty virtually for the past over 24 hours, District
Election Officer-cum Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said the government
employees who would not attend their respective offices tomorrow will not be
questioned about their absence. His statement in a sense meant that the poll
staff could take a day’s break after the conduct of elections.
Women staff gets privileged
treatment
The women poll staff got privileged treatment during their stay at their
respective polling booths. The women staff that was generally subordinate to
presiding officers and assistant presiding officers was given the principal’s
room in the schools where the booths were set up. This was done to ensure that
they got a separate attached washroom and a separate lodging.
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Good
News! Poll staff may avail off today
