Nearly 40% govt employees on election duty did not receive postal ballot: Jactto-Geo
Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com
Chennai:24.04.2019
When the election commission set a goal to achieve100% polling, it did not take appropriate measures to enable the government employees on election duty to cast their votes, according to the Joint Action Committee of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisation – Government Employees Organisation (Jactto-Geo)..
More than 3.5 lakh government employees were involved in election duty, across the state. Of them, around 40% did not receive the postal vote forms, said Jactto-Geo. Repeated attempts to reach state election officer Satyabrata Sahoo were in vain.
Going by the rules, the authorities should distribute the postal ballot/election duty certificate at the facilitation centre (training centre) to the government employees engaged in election duty. They can cast their vote at the facilitation centre or in the polling station where they are deputed.
However, several government employees said it was not done properly. They suspected the ruling AIADMK’s hands behind the non-distribution of postal ballots till date. It was done “intentionally” to stop them from voting, said coordinator of Jactto-Geo K Sambath Kumar, who was the one of polling officers in polling station 293 at C Kalyanapuram in Chennai North Constituency.
“None of the five persons on election duty in the polling station could cast their vote. Similar scenarios prevailed in a majority of the polling stations across Chennai.
“The situation was slightly better in other parts of the state,” he said and added there was political vendetta behind this.
The AIADMK even petitioned the state election officer, requesting not to engage government school teachers in election duty, he said.
“The ruling party knew that we will vote against them. So, we strongly suspect the ruling party’s hand behind the non-distribution of the ballot papers to government employees engaged in election duty,” said another government teacher who was on duty in polling station 59 in Chennai North Constituency.
The teacher said that she struggled to get the election duty certificate (EDC) form that enable the officials on polling duty to vote.
“I took a lot of effort and went to sub-collector office, after the third training class, to collect EDC form. I was made to wait for an hour. It was done purposefully to stop many of us from voting,” she said.
THE ENABLERS OF DEMOCRACY: More than 3.5 lakh government employees were involved in election duty across the state
Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com
Chennai:24.04.2019
When the election commission set a goal to achieve100% polling, it did not take appropriate measures to enable the government employees on election duty to cast their votes, according to the Joint Action Committee of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisation – Government Employees Organisation (Jactto-Geo)..
More than 3.5 lakh government employees were involved in election duty, across the state. Of them, around 40% did not receive the postal vote forms, said Jactto-Geo. Repeated attempts to reach state election officer Satyabrata Sahoo were in vain.
Going by the rules, the authorities should distribute the postal ballot/election duty certificate at the facilitation centre (training centre) to the government employees engaged in election duty. They can cast their vote at the facilitation centre or in the polling station where they are deputed.
However, several government employees said it was not done properly. They suspected the ruling AIADMK’s hands behind the non-distribution of postal ballots till date. It was done “intentionally” to stop them from voting, said coordinator of Jactto-Geo K Sambath Kumar, who was the one of polling officers in polling station 293 at C Kalyanapuram in Chennai North Constituency.
“None of the five persons on election duty in the polling station could cast their vote. Similar scenarios prevailed in a majority of the polling stations across Chennai.
“The situation was slightly better in other parts of the state,” he said and added there was political vendetta behind this.
The AIADMK even petitioned the state election officer, requesting not to engage government school teachers in election duty, he said.
“The ruling party knew that we will vote against them. So, we strongly suspect the ruling party’s hand behind the non-distribution of the ballot papers to government employees engaged in election duty,” said another government teacher who was on duty in polling station 59 in Chennai North Constituency.
The teacher said that she struggled to get the election duty certificate (EDC) form that enable the officials on polling duty to vote.
“I took a lot of effort and went to sub-collector office, after the third training class, to collect EDC form. I was made to wait for an hour. It was done purposefully to stop many of us from voting,” she said.
THE ENABLERS OF DEMOCRACY: More than 3.5 lakh government employees were involved in election duty across the state
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