Postal ballots to be collected from elderly, PwD from today

“We have formed 70 polling teams to visit the houses of such voters to collect postal votes. The teams will ensure the secrecy of the ballot. All postal votes will be collected before March 31 and handed over to respective returning officers. The postal votes will be opened only on the counting day,” G Prakash, Chennai Corporation Commissioner and district election officer, said. 

He added that 7,300 elderly persons and persons with disabilities are eligible for the postal votes. Polling officials had distributed more than 1.2 lakh forms in 16 assembly constituencies in the city but only around 12,000 voters sent the filled-in applications. Of the 12,000 voters, only 7,300 voters are eligible. The 7,300 voters include 6,992 elderly persons and 308 persons with disabilities. 

Meanwhile, the district election office conducted a training session for the 70 teams on collecting the postal votes from the eligible voters in the presence of general observers, on Wednesday. Each polling team consists of two polling officials, one police personnel, one videographer and representatives of candidates. Also, each of the 70 polling teams will cover 15 voters per day. 

“Date and time of the visit of the polling teams to the voters’ houses will be intimated through SMS. In case the voters do not have mobile phones, the details will be given in persons by booth level officers,” a Corporation statement said.