Patiala: Staff must perform polling duty with responsibility, says District Election Officer

Patiala, May 19

The District Election Officer, Showkat Ahmad Parray, has directed the electoral staff to undertake polling duties on June 1 with full accountability and impartiality for the General Election. He emphasised that trained and confident electoral staff would be able to discharge duties smoothly. He said 8,468 employees have been deployed to conduct the election process across 1,742 polling booths.

The General Observer, Om Prakash Bakoria, inspected the rehearsal at Thapar University. He said even a minor mistake by the polling parties would be considered a failure of the entire arrangement. Bakoria said all instructions and rules were written in the PO handbook, adding that they were essential for the officers conducting the elections to be familiar with them.

He emphasised the need to have separate lines for men and women at polling booths, adding that they should send two women to cast their votes after every male voter. A second rehearsal for the staff on election duty was organised in the eight constituencies of the district. He said during this rehearsal, all instructions pertaining to the election process, as catalogued by the Election Commission, were explained to the polling personnel.

The General Observer said the personnel were trained on the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) systems, and other related paraphernalia to be utilised by the presiding and polling officers on voting day. He added that the rehearsal proceedings were supervised by the Assistant Returning Officers concerned in all constituencies.