State election chief announces vote from home facility for senior citizens, disabled

Although this is an opportunity for senior voters, Deshpande appealed to senior citizens who are able to go to the polling station to vote and set an example for others

Additional chief secretary and chief electoral officer of the state Shrikant Deshpande on Friday said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) will provide the facility of voting from home through a special initiative for senior citizens and disabled voters above 80 years of age.

Collector Diwase said that training of all related systems was being conducted in accordance with the elections and training of the police force will also be conducted in the coming days . (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

“Age and illness make it difficult for many senior voters to exercise their right to vote which affects the voting percentage,” he said after taking a review of election work by different government departments at the district collectorate.

He said, “Under the initiative, the senior citizens marked in the voter list will be provided with the application form number 12-D, which has to be filled and submitted to the district election returning officer within five days after the declaration of election. The collector will take a final decision on the demand and after that a temporary polling station will be set up at the house of the concerned voter for actual voting.”

Although this is an opportunity for senior voters, Deshpande appealed to senior citizens who are able to go to the polling station to vote and set an example for others.

Deshpande also urged all the government departments to work seamlessly to increase voting percentage in the forthcoming parliamentary polls.

He said, “The participation of voters is an important aspect of elections and all the government departments connected with election work must take active efforts towards increasing voting percentage ,” he emphasized.

Present during the meeting were divisional commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar, city police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner (law and order) Pravin Pawar, PCMC additional commissioner Vasant Pardeshi and Ajay More, deputy commissioner Annasaheb Chavan, rural SP Pankaj Deshmukh, additional collector Ajay More, deputy commissioner Ramchandra Shinde , deputy election officer Meenal Kalaskar and deputy collector incharge for coordination Archana Tambe.

Pulkundwar said, in order to increase the voting percentage, a wide awareness campaign should be conducted.

“During the drive, awareness campaigns should be held through various media. Efforts are being made to increase the voting percentage,” he said.

Pune police commissioner Kumar said, “Police training is being completed for the Lok Sabha general elections. The premises of highly sensitive and sensitive polling stations are being visited and preventive measures are being taken accordingly.”

Collector Diwase said that training of all related systems was being conducted in accordance with the elections and training of the police force will also be conducted in the coming days .

“Instructions have been given to all concerned as per contact arrangements at remote (shadow) polling stations. Various activities are being implemented to increase voter registration and voting percentage.”

He also said that voting awareness was being created by holding meetings with all the relevant entities such as educational institutions, industrial establishments, women’s self-help groups and social organisations.