Members of the Municipal Teachers’ Federation of Andhra Pradesh on Friday drew the attention of the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India towards difficulties faced by employees deployed in poll process, in casting postal ballot.
In a letter addressed to the CEC, president of the association S. Ramakrishna said of the two covers given to the voters, the vote in the small cover should be considered as the postal vote and urged him to extend the time up to June 3, 2024 for casting the postal ballot vote.
He said the current process of postal ballot was in use since 1956. In the past, the postal ballot was sent through post to the counting centres where the employees were deployed, but any more. He said the current system of postal ballot was complex because of which, 59,000 of the two lakh votes were declared invalid in the 2019 Assembly elections in the State.
Under the present system, a gazetted officer was required to recognise the postal ballot voter at the time of casting the vote. He said when the world was moving towards, “we are still following a long-drawn system”.
Mr. Ramakrishna suggested that employees on election duty could be asked to follow the system being implemented for senior citizens who are above the age of 85 years. He also urged the CEC to address the anomalies in payments made to the election staff posted in different places.
