MAPUSA
At a time when every vote is considered precious and efforts are being made by election authorities to get voters to exercise their franchise, it has now emerged that a whopping 920-odd members from an Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) of Goa Police are likely to be deprived of their voting rights.
This is because, the IRB team had been dispatched for two phases of voting in Rajasthan and from there to Gujarat and Jharkhand, where they will miss the Lok Sabha polls in Goa. To make matters worse, they have not been provided with the right to vote through postal ballots.
According to sources, the IRB battalion consists of one deputy superintendent, 10 inspectors, 10 sub-inspectors, 20 assistant sub-inspectors and police constables.
This team was sent to Rajasthan for security duties and was later posted in Gujarat, where voting will be conducted at the same time as in Goa.
According to election rules, Absentee Voters on Essential Services (AVES) have been provided with the option of Postal Ballot Paper Voting from April 29 to May 5.
Sources, however, disclosed that the police department had not made a provision for the IRB team to fill forms for ballot voting and hence, they are likely to be deprived of their franchise.
After receiving information from the IRB Police Force, the State election officials are reported to have contacted the Election Commission but there has been no resolution in this matter.
