MARGAO
Why are some of the candidates from South Goa anxious to know the number of government servants in their respective constituencies who have availed the postal ballot facility and who are yet to return the ballots to their departments?
With a whopping 9000-odd government servants from the district availing the postal ballot facility, the reasons could be varied, more so when political observers speak of close contests in many constituencies and where a few votes can make a big difference in the final result and which can make or mar the career of the politicians.
At least three candidates are believed to have knocked the doors of the district Collector, South Swapnil Naik, who is also the district electoral officer and the number of candidates directly approaching the Returning officer for information on the government servants availing postal ballot facility is not known for the moment.
Given the situation, the district Collector has approached the State Chief Electoral Officer with a plea to guide and advise his office how to go about on the request made by candidatesWhile the district Collector is awaiting the reply and guidance from the State Chief Electoral officer, questions are indeed doing the rounds in the Collectorate whether it was prudent to give the huge time frame to the government servants to return the postal ballots after casting their votes. “When the just concluded elections had turned out a hotly contested affair, with projections speaking of close contests, the possibility of intimidation of government servants by the candidates cannot be ruled out”, remarked a senior government official.
A suggestion is doing the rounds amongst senior officials that attempts to approach the government servants by the candidates through various means can be effectively checked with a notification mandating the postal ballot holders to return the ballots within 48 hours after the issuance of the notification.
What’s significant to note is that while 9000-odd government servants were given the postal ballot to be returnable two hours before the counting day, there are still 4500 officials who have still not returned the ballots to the concerned departments.
Says district Collector Swapnil Naik: “So far, around 4500 postal ballots have been received by the departments, while the balance 4500 ballots are still to come in. Most of the 4500 postal ballots that have been received so far had come in during the training programmes. But, the rules permit the holders of the postal ballots to return them even just two hours before the votes are taken up for counting”.
Election rules, however, mandate the government servant to return the postal ballots to the Returning officer just two hours before the EVMs are taking up for counting.
