Kendrapara: Officials engaged in election duty for the fourth phase election expressed dismay before the EVM Disbursement centre here Saturday as several of them were not provided postal ballots to cast their votes.
They also threatened not to receive the EVM kits if they were not given chance to cast their vote through postal ballots.
The problem arose after the facilitation centre opened for the polling officials to cast their postal ballots was closed ten minutes after it opened.
District collector Dasarathi Satapathy said that the polling officials should have filled up the form to cast postal ballot seven days before the poll date but they filled the form Saturday leading to the issue. He assured that steps were being taken to sort out the issue.
This apart, mismanagement of events became glaring as a couple of polling personnel, including a pregnant woman fell sick due to sun stroke. Although a ceiling fans were provided at the temporary sheds, but they were not enough to cool the temperature.
It may be noted here that as many as 9492 polling personnel have been engaged in poll duty across Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency. About 1678 service voters have been identified by the district administration to cast their votes through Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) in the election.
The poll for the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat and six Assembly segments under it would be held on Monday, April 29 in the fourth phase of general elections.
The election to Patkura Assembly seat under this parliament seat was adjourned following the death of BJD nominee Bed Prakash Agarwalla. A fresh poll there will be held May 19, according to the Election Commission notification.
(UNI)