Voting from home could pose logistical challenge to EC

There are about 9.87 lakh voters who are aged above 80 years. In addition, there are 4.03 lakh voters who are disabled. Voters of both these categories and those adversely affected by Covid-19 will be able to avail the facility of voting from home by filling Form-12D (postal ballots).

“This is a large logistic issue. In Ahmedabad alone, there are 1.25 lakh voters who are aged above 80 and there are 30,000 persons with disabilities. State-wide, this figure could be large. The exact number of people opting for this facility will be known once Form-12D is filled and returned,” said Dr Dhaval Patel, District Election Officer and Ahmedabad Collector, said while interacting with media persons earlier this week.

The process is expected to be initiated by the Booth Level Officer (BLO). “The names of 80 plus voters and those with disabilities have been flagged in the electoral list. BLOs will download this list and contact them and offer them Form-12D. A voter in this category can either choose to vote at home and fill the form or opt to vote at the polling booth on the day of the polling,” said Patel about the “absentee voters” in the three categories who have been allowed to use postal ballots for voting.

The BLOs will not only deliver Form-12D to concerned electors and obtain acknowledgments but will also deposit these with the Returning Officer (RO). “In unfortunate circumstances, if the voter is not available when the team visits their residence, then if he turns up on the polling booth on day of voting, he or she won’t be allowed to vote because he or she has been enlisted for postal ballot,” Patel said, adding that the election machinery will try twice to reach out to voters at their homes. If an elector is not available, BLO will share his/her contact details and revisit to collect it within five days of the notification.

For those opting to cast their ballots from home, the Election Commission expects to finish voting “2-3 days” ahead of the polling dates on December 1 and December 5.

A polling team, comprising two polling officials, a videographer and security, will go to the elector’s house along with a voting compartment and get the elector to vote on the postal ballot maintaining complete secrecy of vote.

The respective candidates will be provided a list of these electors in advance and will also be provided the schedule of voting and the route chart of the polling parties so that they can send their representatives to witness the polling procedure. Postal ballots will then be stored securely by the returning officer.