Dubbaka bypoll: Covid infected among 1,550 to cast vote through postal ballot

Hyderabad: Over 1,550 voters are set to cast their vote through the postal ballot method in the upcoming Dubbaka election. These voters are either Covid positive or those above 80 years of age or Persons with Disabilities.

The Election Commission has given this voting opportunity for the first time to very senior citizens, handicapped people and also the corona infected voters who cannot step out of the house due to infection risk to others. Earlier, voting chance through the postal ballot was only restricted to polling staff.

A call was given to voters including virus-infected locals in Dubbaka to fill Form-12(d) to exercise their franchise through postal ballot. According to State election officials, booth level officers would be collecting postal ballots by visiting houses of the voters concerned by November 2.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission is taking all measures to ensure polling goes smoothly without any trouble during the time of corona pandemic. Already, polling stations that were nearly 250 have been increased to 310 plus now. Also, the maximum number of voters per each polling station is restricted to below 900 to ensure proper physical distancing and avoid long queues of voters on the polling day.

In 2018 general elections, some of the stations had voters around 1,500. State election officials informed that all precautions and safety measures are being put in place in view of Covid pandemic. Voters are being instructed to come to polling to stations wearing masks without fail.

Sanitisers to be made available at the polling station. Also, medical teams would be on a standby to attend to any kind of emergencies if required.