23,000 polling staff to avail postal ballot

Eluru: The Right to Vote is a constitutionally guaranteed democratic right. People are exercising their franchise to fulfill this right more responsibly when compared to the staff engaged in polling. Only 30 per cent of the election staff were able to cast their vote during previous elections in the district.

Keeping this in mind, Collector Praveen Kumar took the initiative this time to improve the voting percentage to more than 90 per cent by personally monitoring the printing of postal ballots here on Saturday. He expressed satisfaction over printing of required postal ballots by supervising the printing process. He revealed that ballots required for 15 Assembly constituencies and two parliamentary constituencies have been printed.

The Collector sought the cooperation of polling staff in exercising their franchise to strengthen democracy. The staff needs to submit Form 12 to the Returning Officer concerned to get a postal ballot. They should cast their vote the same in the ballot box kept there. This time, a rose colour ballot paper is being used for Assembly constituency and white for parliamentary constituency, he added.

He informed that they were sensitising the polling staff to improve the percentage of voting through the postal ballot. The staff should avail the postal ballot in a transparent manner. Postal Ballot Nodal Officer Ch Subbi Reddy accompanied the District Collector.