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This is an archive article published on October 15, 2019
Pune: Over 2,700 govt employees issued show cause notices for skipping election training
Pune district collectorate officials said the “absentees” have been now asked to be present before the office of Returning Officer (RO) concerned and explain the reason for their absence
A total of 34,812 government employees have been assigned poll duties. (File photo)
PUNE district administration has issued show cause notices to 2,773 government employees who were reportedly assigned election duties but had not turned up for the training session organised by the state Election Commission last week.
Pune district collectorate officials said the “absentees” have been now asked to be present before the office of Returning Officer (RO) concerned and explain the reason for their absence. If they fail to turn up at the RO’s office, officials said, the administration will move to press criminal charges against them, assuming that “they are trying to evade election duty”.
There are a total of 7,915 polling centres in Pune district — the district will elect 21 new MLAs during the October 21 Assembly polls. To conduct polling at these centres, a total of 34,812 government employees — officers and other staffer — have been assigned duties. They include state and central government employees, staff from schools and colleges in the district, civic bodies and defence establishments among others.
“All these 34,812 persons were issued orders about their appointment for election duty and asked to remain present for the necessary training. During training sessions, officials are instructed on EVMs, VVPATs and other processes and rules that they have to follow while conducting the polling. A second session was held on Saturday and Sunday last week. We noticed that as many as 2,773 persons, who were given election duty, had not reported to the training sessions. They belong to 864 departments and offices located in the district. All of them have been served show cause notices under Section 134 of The Representation of the People Act, 1951 and Section 188 of Indian Penal Code,” Additional District Collector Mahesh Awhad, in-charge of manpower management cell, said.
He said, as per the notice, all the officials have been asked to remain present before the Returning Officer concerned. “We have directed the Assistant Returning officers (ARO) to file criminal cases against those who fail to remain present and explain why they failed to attend the meetings,” Awhad said.
He added that the October 1 judgment by the Bombay High Court had also made it clear that employees of unaided organisations, too, have to accept election duties and make themselves available for work. The high court held that ECI and the state election commissioner can requisition the staff of unaided engineering and polytechnic colleges in Maharashtra for the forthcoming assembly elections this month. The petition was filed in court by the Association of the Managements of Polytechnics.
SPPU seeks exemption
Citing hindrance to smooth academic functioning, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) had last month written to the State Election Commission seeking exemption from all kinds of election duties to its senior faculty and department heads. The university had pointed out that it has hundreds of affiliated colleges in Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts. It stated that as the semester examinations were scheduled in the upcoming weeks, the university wanted its senior staff to be available for the planning of examinations.
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