‘Inadequate’ arrangement annoys staff on election duty

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 19

“Inadequate” arrangements made the staff on election duty annoyed in the district. Apart from poor arrangements for night stay, the district administration failed to provide adequate strength of employees at some of the administrative blocks, they said.

A college professor, who didn’t wish to be named, said, “Due to a delay in receiving the election material, we reached in a remote village in Ajnala block at around 7 pm last evening. There was no power connection in the school. We made arrangement on our own.”

Another teacher said, “The staff was less than the requirement. At least five persons are required at a polling booth. We were only two, so managed to start the voting process with a delay of half an hour. Some of the villages witnessed two-hour delay to start the process due to the shortage of staff.”

A man on election duty at a polling booth said, “There is nothing new. Inadequate arrangements at most of the polling stations have been a thing of routine and the staff have become habitual to that. I already knew that we will have to face hardships.”

Meanwhile, the returning officer at Baba Bakala issued a show-cause notice to the polling staff for leaving the stations without informing the senior officials on Tuesday night. Baba Bakala SDM has asked the staff to submit their reply failing which the case would be sent to the Election Commission.