The election department has issued show-cause notices to 786 polling officials, who are mostly teachers and revenue officials, for not attending the first phase of the election training session that was held on March 24 in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, and Tiruvannamalai districts.
The training sessions for polling personnel, including government teachers and personnel from other government departments, were scheduled on March 24 and on April 7, 16, 18, and polling day (April 19). The show-cause notices have been sent to those who have not explained their absence from the session on March 24.
“We have issued a show-cause notice to those who have not given an explanation for their absence from the first phase of election training. A week will be given from the date of issue of the notice to give their explanation,” said D. Ganesh Moorthy, Chief Educational Officer (CEO), Tiruvannamalai.
As most of the polling officials for the upcoming Lok Sabha election are school teachers, the election training has been coordinated by the School Education Department, especially for the elementary and higher secondary schools in these districts.
Of the total 1,365 absentees for the training in these districts, 786 polling staff were served show-cause notices as the remaining staff have given written explanations, including medical, death of close relatives, and accidents. Of the 786 show-cause notices given, 435 staff belong to Tiruvannamalai, followed by Vellore (195), and Ranipet (141). However, the absentee polling officials will be allowed to attend the forthcoming training session on April 7, said that even if they have not given a written explanation, said official
In the first phase of training, 28,235 polling officials were enrolled on March 24. Tiruvannamalai has the highest number of 11,408 polling officials to cover 2,377 polling booths, followed by Vellore with 6,272 polling officials (1,307 polling booths), and Ranipet (5,386 polling officials for 1,122 polling booths).
