The District Congress Committee’s (DCC) efforts to ensure stringent compliance of polling officials with the election rules concerning the facility for casting of open votes by visually-challenged voters has borne fruit with the Election Commission (EC) issuing directions on special poll arrangements in the district.
At a press meeting here on Wednesday, DCC president K. Surendran said the directions issued by the EC on May 6 to the Chief Electoral Officer of the State followed a complaint lodged by the Congress in this regard. He said the party would initiate action against polling officials if they failed to comply with the rules.
The EC’s directions in the message to the CEO, the copies of which were circulated among reporters, said that all the visually-challenged voters should be contacted at their houses to get their requisition for companions at least three days before the poll date.
Companions
As per the direction, the presiding officer has to mandatorily record the details of voters permitted to bring companions in Form 14-A which should be scrutinised on the poll day by the Returning Officer and the Observer. Webcasting with fixed location should be done in all the booths in the seven Assembly constituencies in the district from where these complaints have been reported.
In addition to webcasting, arrangements should be made to capture photographs of all voters who need companions along with their respective companions. The directions also included setting up of a control room at the District Electoral Officer’s office to watch the webcast and immediately report if any violation is observed, the directions said.
The EC directed posting of micro observers from the neighbouring districts in all critical and vulnerable polling stations. A government employee along with a Central force personnel should be posted at those polling stations to check identity cards and other identity documents before permitting them to enter the polling station premises. The number of votes should be collected on an hourly basis, it said adding that immediate steps should be initiated if any polling station reports more than 120 votes in any hour.
