Polling staff not paid, delegation to meet state EC

Government employees engaged for election duty and are not likely to be paid, sources have told Hindustan Times.

Government employees engaged for election duty and are not likely to be paid, sources have told Hindustan Times.

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Most of the staff happen to be teachers. They were neither paid for the rehearsals nor for the poll duties.

Generally, it is the election commission that pays the employees on duty.

An employee organization Punjab Subordinate Services Federation (PSSF) will lead a delegation to meet the state election commissioner SS Brar on May 22 to press for payment.

PSSF’s district president Satish Rana said that it was unfair on the part of the authorities not to pay the staff, some of whom had travelled long distances to reach the training and polling booths.

They were not even paid for the food and travel.

“In the parliamentary and assembly elections, the election commission always pays, but in the rural bodies elections, the staff has not been paid a penny,” Rana complained.

He said that the staff had been kept in the dark that they would not be paid for the duty, adding that if such was the situation, people would stop volunterring.