With just five days left for counting of votes, most of the postal votes in the 16 constituencies in Chennai have been received.
According to election officials, the number of postal votes has increased – from less than 50 in the previous elections to over 200 in most of the constituencies in the city. One ballot box has been kept in each of the Assembly constituencies to receive the votes on postal ballot papers to be cast by the officials and police personnel, who were engaged in poll duty on April 13.
At least 2,000 postal votes have been received so far in the 16 constituencies. According to election officials, a number of applicants among police personnel in the city had applied without relevant documents such as polling duty certificate. Such applications were rejected by the Election Commission.
However, facilitation counters at the training centres of polling personnel by the District Election Office helped to increase the number of postal votes among polling personnel. More than 50 per cent of the votes on postal ballot papers were received on the day of training for the polling personnel in each of the 16 constituencies of the city. The postal ballot papers were issued to persons drafted for election duty and those who had submitted Form-12. The valid votes on postal ballot papers would be counted first and the papers received before 8 a.m. on May 13 would be accepted.
