Cong. gives list of dos, don’ts to poll agents

The exit poll results may not have been encouraging for the Congress party but the principal Opposition party is not taking any chances for May 23.

Ahead of the counting day, the legal cell of the party has prepared a detailed document with Dos and Don'ts and FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions] for its polling agents for Thursday.

These have been circulated by Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal as a ready reckoner for the agents. From detailing the procedure of appointing a polling agent for a candidate to answering how many agents are allowed to each candidate, the document answers various hypothetical queries that a polling agent can have.

The document also has a special section on what to watch out for and precautions that need to be taken.

“Before the votes recorded in any control unit of a voting machine are counted, the counting agents present at the counting table shall be allowed to inspect the outer strip seal, the special tag, the paper seals and such other vital seals as may have been affixed on the carrying case and the control unit and to satisfy themselves that the seals are intact and control unit has not been tampered with,” read the document.

It also talked about special precautions to be taken for postal ballots. “There should be no wear, tear or modification on the envelope,” it said.