PANAJI
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Altinho, is expected to submit a ‘reminder letter’ to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Delhi, seeking its perspective and an alternative process to ensure that officials and uniformed personnel deployed on duty in another state are provided with the opportunity to exercise their voting rights in their home state.
The office has taken note of a news report in The Goan, which highlights that 920 personnel from an Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) of the Goa Police are likely to be deprived of their voting rights as they will be deployed on duty in Gujarat on May 7, coinciding with the polling day in Goa during Phase 3. These 10 battalions were posted in Rajasthan, prior to their duty in Gujarat, with their final polling duty in Jharkhand scheduled on June 1.
“Every citizen possesses the right to vote, a right enshrined in the Indian Constitution. We had previously communicated with the ECI elaborating on this situation to which a response is awaited. Given the recurrence of this issue, we will shortly send a reminder letter to the ECI requesting to look into the matter at the earliest, so that votes are not wasted,” stated the official.
Although a resolution is unlikely before May 7, the official asserted that the matter would be resolved where such circumstances arise in future elections. “This is a prevalent issue across numerous states,” he added.
It has also been learnt that quite a few personnel of Goa Reserve Police too could be deprived of their voting rights, as they are already on their poll duties with no formalities carried out for their prior voting or postal ballot voting.
