In Coimbatore district, over 3,000 people have petitioned the administration seeking exemption from poll duty and all these applications citing medical reasons will be referred to the Health Department to ascertain the genuineness, Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati said.
As many as 15,860 personnel are involved in various poll related duties such as flying squad, static surveillance squads, polling booth personnel and counting duties. To avoid poll related duties, personnel are turning up with petitions seeking exemption.
Being posted to far off polling stations and lack of proper place of stay and toilet facilities are said to be the reasons for seeking exemption. If the concerns of the employees are resolved, those seeking exemption would come down, say government employees.