Election Machinery Ready for Postal Voting…

Assembly Election 2024: Special Article

The administration is ready to implement the Assembly General Election 2024 in the state. Voting will take place in a single phase on November 20, 2024. To enable officials and staff appointed at polling centers to exercise their voting rights, the state election machinery is acting in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India.

A postal voting facility has been made available for officials and staff on national duty, armed forces personnel, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens over the age of 85 to exercise their voting rights.

Postal voting is facilitated for election duty officers, staff, police, and armed forces personnel. In the Lok Sabha General Election 2024, 267,250 postal ballots were issued. The election machinery is operational to enable appointed officers and staff for the Assembly elections to participate in postal voting.

Staff appointed for election duty must apply for postal ballots through Form ’12’ or ’12A’ to the Election Officer. After verification by the concerned election officer, voters will receive their postal ballots. Officers appointed for election duty who apply through Form ’12’ must vote at the designated facilitation centers. Form ’12D’ is provided for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

Complete information about the appointed election duty officers and security personnel is prepared by the District Election Officer. After the announcement of the election, pre-filled Forms ’12’ and ’12A’ containing the necessary information about the appointed staff will be made available to those designated for election duties along with their appointment orders.

Voting staff who wish to exercise their voting rights by post must submit their application in Form ’12’ to the Election Officer through the coordination officer at least seven days prior to the voting date. During the first training for election personnel, they will submit filled and signed Forms ’12’. Distribution and information collection regarding Forms ’12’ and ’12A’ will continue from the staff’s first training until the final date for filing nomination papers.

Forms ’12’ received from the staff will be sorted by assembly constituency and placed in separate envelopes labeled with the respective constituency and district names. The received Forms ’12’ will be scanned and sent to the coordination officers assigned by the Election Officers of the respective constituencies along with the lists in Form ‘4’.

After the list of candidates contesting the election is prepared, by November 7, 2024, the coordination officers for each assembly constituency will prepare postal ballots, certificates for election duty, and the necessary forms and envelopes for the verified staff, and make the required entries in the voter list (marked copy).

Following the first visit to the district coordination center, after the list of candidates contesting the election is prepared, on the fourth day, November 8, 2024, postal ballots for constituencies from other districts will be handed over to the District Coordination Officer. After preparing the list of candidates contesting the election, on the fifth day, November 9, 2024, all district coordination officers will gather at the state-level coordination center to exchange postal ballots and the necessary forms and envelopes for their respective districts with coordination officers from other districts, and they will be dispatched back to their respective districts with adequate security arrangements.

During the second training session for election duty personnel (from November 10 to November 14, 2024), the coordination officers for all assembly constituencies will facilitate the staff in casting their votes on postal ballots at the polling facility center. After voting, the head of the facilitation center will remove the envelopes containing postal ballots from the ballot boxes in the presence of political parties or candidates, sort them by assembly constituency, and place them in the strongroom.

Then, on November 15, 2024, five days before voting, in the District Clearing Centre, the coordination officers of all assembly constituencies will present postal ballots and separate envelopes/bags containing late-received Forms ’12’ to the District Coordination Officer for their respective assembly constituencies or other districts. After this, four days before voting, on November 16, 2024, the district coordination officers from all districts will exchange postal ballots and late-received Forms ’12’ at the state coordination center and will then return to their respective districts.

From three days to one day before voting (November 17 to November 19, 2024), the coordination officers for all assembly constituencies will conduct the third training for election staff. During their second visit to the state coordination center, postal ballots will be cast by the respective staff at the polling facility center on the respective days. Actions related to postal ballots cast after the second training will be completed.

During the third visit to the state coordination center, on the second day of voting, all assembly coordination officers and district coordination officers will collect postal ballots from their respective district coordination officers and take them to the state coordination center for the exchange of postal ballot envelopes and bags with coordination officers from other districts.

Recognizing that every vote is precious, the state election machinery is ensuring that voters from any sector are not deprived of voting. Therefore, while fulfilling their duties and responsibilities during this festival of democracy, those with access to postal voting facilities are encouraged to exercise their right to vote.