Election officials in the central districts are busy reaching out to and eliciting the choice of elderly people aged above 85 and persons with disability (PwD), who have been given the option to vote through postal ballot in the Lok Sabha elections.
In Tiruchi district, there are 48,421 elderly people and persons with disabilities eligible for postal ballot. An official said booth-level officers were visiting door-to-door to distribute Form 12D using which the eligible persons can opt for the postal ballot.
A special team comprising BLOs and officials will be formed to distribute and collect the postal ballots from those who opt for it. Officials will visit the houses of voters and collect the ballots after intimating the voter concerned a day ahead of their visit.
Some of the elderly people were happy over the facility. A. Hariparanthaman, 87, of Nagapattinam, said: “I am grateful to the government for this. I have not been able to move out of my house for the past six years. The postal ballot makes me feel that my opinion and choice matters.”
However, some activists say officials should ensure that persons with disabilities are able to utilise the facility without any interference from family members or local politicians.
G. Saravanan, an activist from Pudukkottai and a person with disability welcomed the postal ballot option. However, in some cases family members could be influenced to make the person to vote for a particular candidate. At some places, senior officials don’t go to the house and instead they deputed lower level staff, he said.
In Nagapattinam district, there are 25,460 elderly people and persons with disabilities eligible for the postal ballot. A. Kaliyamoorthy from the Retired Officials Association in Nagapattinam said it was a great initiative by the Election Commission.
Mayiladuthurai district has around 10,000 elderly people and persons with disabilities eligible for postal ballot. D. Ganesan, who is a disabled man, said: “It is a useful system that allows us to participate in the democratic process but there needs to be a comprehensive mechanism to ensure complete secrecy in the voting procedure.”
Officials in Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam and Tiruchi told The Hindu that specific instructions have been given to place ballot box inside the house of the voters to ensure privacy and prevent any intervention by others, including family members. Instructions had been given to the officials to guard the ballot papers and the boxes closely, they said.
