Employees on poll duty to be given right to vote on spot

Vijayawada: Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena instructed the district election officers (DEOs) and returning officers (ROs) to provide Form-12 to the employees on election duty and they should be given a chance to exercise their franchise.

After coming to know that several employees on the election duty could not present Form-12 to cast their postal ballots, the CEO said that if they could not submit Form-12 by May 1 due to unavoidable circumstances, they should be allowed to submit the Form-12 to the respective ROs to cast their votes.

The facilitation centres would work from 10 am to 5 pm on May 7 and 8. The employees may avail the special casual leave to cast their postal ballots at the facility centres.

The CEO instructed the ROs to allow the employees on the election duty to exercise their right to vote as per the direction of the Election Commission of India. The ROs should make sure that the postal ballots were not issued so far before allowing them to vote. IF there are any discrepancies, action would be taken against the ROs, he warned.