E-Paper
Ludhiana | 2 days to go for counting, but Punjab Police personnel still waiting for postal ballots
While several policemen have not received their postal ballots, six personnel have raised the matter, and filed a complaint with the election commission
Only two days remain for Punjab assembly poll vote counting, but police personnel deputed on election duty are yet to receive the postal ballots.
While several policemen have not received their postal ballots, six personnel have raised the matter, and filed a complaint with the election commission. One of the officials, Gurpreet Singh, who is at present posted as deputy superintendent of police in Malerkotla, said he had applied for issuance of postal ballot paper to the nodal officer for postal ballots in Malerkotla. The nodal officer had forwarded the request to the district election officer, Ludhiana, who had failed to issue the postal ballot paper.
The ballot paper can only be submitted till March 9, 5pm. His lawyer, Rajinder Kumar, said the election department had failed to provide a satisfactory response. “It appears the officers concerned have been trying to infringe on the legal right of my client, Gurpreet Singh, to cast his vote, which is a serious matter,” he said, adding that legal action will be taken if his client was unable to exercise his franchise.
DSP Jatinder Singh, who is posted at the Sangrur control room, has also filed a similar complaint through his lawyer.
It is not the first time that police personnel have missed their chance to vote. In 2017 assembly elections, they had encountered the same problem, and during the 2019 general election, the department had made efforts to ensure that the police personnel were able to cast their votes.
When contacted deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Varinder Kumar Sharma, refuted the allegations.
“Every employee is duty bound to fill form number 12 for postal ballot at least 10 days before the polling date. Whosoever had filled that form was given a chance to cast their vote. A 10 day period is needed to prepare postal ballots, which then have to be marked in the actual voter list, which goes to the polling station so that there is no double voting. Then three days before the actual polling, police personnel were allowed to cast their votes on February 17,” he said.
