Mumbai, 09 January (HS): Election duty staff deployed for the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) polls have welcomed the special postal voting facility arranged by the civic administration to ensure that government officers and employees are able to exercise their voting rights.
Thane Municipal Commissioner and Election Decision Officer Saurabh Rao said that the facility has been widely appreciated by government officials and employees assigned to election duty. As all municipal corporation elections in the state are being held on the same day, special arrangements were necessary to prevent staff on duty from being deprived of their right to vote.
Voting for the Thane Municipal Corporation will be held on January 15, while counting of votes will take place on January 16. A large number of government officials and employees have been deployed for election-related work on both days. The Thane Municipal Corporation has 2,013 polling stations across 33 wards, with around 11,500 employees, including reserve staff, engaged for election duties.
These employees are posted at different locations, while their names are registered in voter lists of areas such as Mumbai, Dombivli, Kalyan, Badlapur, Nerul and Panvel. To ensure they are not unable to vote due to official duties, the civic administration introduced postal voting arrangements, which are being used by employees in large numbers. Police personnel on election duty have also opted for postal ballot papers.
Employees filled the postal ballot papers in the prescribed format and submitted them to election officers appointed by ward committees in their residential areas. Postal voting nodal officer and Deputy Commissioner Dinesh Tayde said the process would safeguard the voting rights of employees. He added that as elections in different municipal corporations across the state have been announced simultaneously, special postal voting arrangements were made to make voting easier for staff deployed outside their home municipal areas.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar