Teachers find a novel way to evade poll duty

The most recent method tried out for exemption is contesting in the election.

Elections are festival season for Kerala, be it to the local bodies or Assembly or Parliament. Amidst all the fervour, there is one class of people who dread the polls, the polling officers, most of who have been trying out various methods to skip election duty.

Health reasons are mostly cited as reason for exemption, though disabilities are also considered. There are cases where some had cited their own wedding on the Election Day as reason for exemption. However, a most recent method tried out for exemption from poll duty is contesting in the election.

Aided school teachers can contest

While government officials are not allowed to contest polls, employees at some government-funded institutions, such as aided schools are allowed to contest. Though there are a huge lot of such employees seriously contesting in polls and often making it to governance, there are a few who use their candidature as an excuse.

“I have filed nomination as an Independent candidate for my ward in the panchayat. I lose nothing but the deposit, if I lose in the polls. What is some money considering the nightmare that is poll duty,” an aided school teacher from Nadapuram said on condition of anonymity. She admitted that there are quite a few of her acquaintances who have tried this tactic before.

The hardships and huge responsibility of the poll duty are what prompt many women to resort to such measures. “Once when I was the first polling officer in a remote village in Kozhikode, we were forced to allow a woman to cast her vote twice. We had no other way since the political leaders who accompanied her insisted that she had forgotten to vote for one of the three-tier panchayats. Later, we had a hard time tallying the votes and ballot sheets,” a teacher from Feroke narrated her experience.

Association claims ignorance

However, the Kerala State Teachers’ Association claimed ignorance of any such practice among its members.

“Nothing of that sort is happening as far as we know. We do not appreciate our members engaging in such practice”, said president of the association K.N. Sukumaran, who himself is contesting the polls in Palakkad district.