CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that senior citizens aged 85 and above and persons with disabilities (PwD) can cast their votes through the postal ballot facility in the upcoming Assembly election.
Eligible voters must apply for the facility by submitting Form 12D within five days of the election notification. The forms can be handed over to their respective booth-level officers (BLOs) for processing.
Once approved, election officials will visit voters at their doorsteps to collect their votes, ensuring convenience and accessibility.
The ECI has also extended the postal ballot facility to personnel engaged in essential services on polling day, including those in fire services, health services, the electricity department, traffic and transport services, ambulance services, the aviation sector, and long-distance government transport corporations.
Such personnel can apply through the designated nodal officers of their respective departments.
Additionally, voters on election duty will receive their postal ballots and can cast their votes at designated facilitation centres set up at zonal offices and returning officers' offices.
The ECI has instructed that all postal ballots must reach the counting centres by 8 am on May 4, the day of vote counting, for them to be considered valid.