Bhadrak: In a shocking revelation, of the total 8,171 postal ballots received in Bhadrak Parliamentary constituency in the recent election, 2,890 votes stood rejected.
Such a large number of postal votes exercised by the government employees who themselves were associated with the election process having been rejected has left many baffled.
The Bhadrak Parliamentary constituency had received 8,171 postal votes. During counting, 2,890 votes were rejected due to some basic errors.
The government employees and teachers who were assigned poll duty had had six training sessions on how to manage the election. They were helping people understand how to cast their votes so that they would not go waste.
Surprisingly enough, the votes of the same trained teachers and government employees were rejected. “The fact that votes of responsible persons like government employees and teachers have gone down the drain is not a good sign for the country,” senior citizens observed.
When asked about the reason why the votes were declared rejected, an official said the postal votes there were rejected mostly for three reasons: One, during the time of exercising the postal votes some of these voters had not written the serial number written on Form No-13 A. Two, their Form No-13 A had not been attested by any gazetted officer. Three, some of these voters had not put their declarations in the specified 13 A envelops.
“The whimsical attitude of these government employees is as much responsible for their votes being rejected as the irresponsibility of the officers on duty. They should be more careful not to repeat the mistake in future,” observed advocate Shreekant Tripathy.
This year the number of postal votes was found to have increased four times than the ones in the 2014 elections.
PNN
