Not in special category, many top officials may miss voting chance
Times of India | 19 April 2024
Kolkata: With the first phase of Lok Sabha elections kicking off on Friday, many top officials who hail from other states but stay and work in Kolkata might not be able to exercise their franchise as their names are not enrolled on the voters’ list here.
Some of these officials requested chief electoral officer (CEO) Aariz Aftab to arrange for postal ballots so that they could cast their votes from their offices, but the EC did not entertain their pleas as there is no provision for postal ballots this time.
One of the functionaries, a first-phase voter, said his request for postal ballot — so that he could cast his vote from office and get it attested by his colleagues — was not approved by the EC as he was “not a special category voter as per norms”.
The CEO said special arrangements could be made only for special category of voters. So, an official whose home is in Tamil Nadu was likely to miss his chance of voting on Friday.
An EC official said special category voters according to Section 20 (4) of The Representation of The People Act, 1950 included the president, vice-president, governor, lieutenant general of an UT, cabinet ministers of the Union or of the state, deputy chairman and members of Planning Commission and speaker of Lok Sabha or state assembly.
Even EC officials were a bit clueless if Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose would vote from Kolkata or travel to Kerala for the same. The former IAS officer, who has his house in Kerala, is not enrolled as a voter of Kolkata North constituency as Raj Bhavan falls under Chowringhee assembly seat.
Earlier, several governors like Gopal Krishna Gandhi and Jagdeep Dhankhar had their names in the electoral rolls in Kolkata. The booth for the governor is located in the office of the auditor general. An official said that Dhankhar, who is now vice-president, had recently applied for shifting his name from the electoral rolls in Bengal.
EC officials have kept arrangements ready if the Bengal governor wanted to cast his vote from Kolkata or if he wanted to enrol as a voter here. An official said voters can add their names in the rolls till the last date of nomination filing.