The Kerala High Court on Tuesday questioned the Election Commission about allegations that 21,156 government officials deployed on election duty were unable to cast their votes during the Assembly polls on April 9, The Hindu reported.
The allegations were unfortunate, Justice KV Jayakumar said, adding that the poll panel ought to provide the necessary voting facilities to all eligible citizens.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions alleging large-scale denial of voting rights to government officials on poll duty during the elections. The petitions sought directions to make postal ballots available to the officials and to extend the deadline for casting the votes.
At an earlier hearing on April 8, the court had directed the Election Commission to take corrective steps to ensure that the personnel on duty received their postal ballots without delay, Live Law reported. Subsequently, the poll panel issued an order to facilitate their voting.
However, the petitioners’ counsel told the judge that several officials on election duty did not receive the postal ballots despite submitting their applications within the prescribed timeframe.
On Tuesday, the counsel reiterated that a large number of personnel had been effectively denied the opportunity to vote. “Postal ballots were not properly issued,” the legal news portal quoted the counsel as having argued.
However, the counsel for the Election Commission told the judge that applications for postal ballots were either rejected, not received or found to be defective in several cases. The appropriate remedy for the petitioners would be to file an election petition after the conclusion of the electoral process, the counsel added.
An election petition is a procedure for inquiring into the validity of the polls results. Such petitions are filed in the High Court of the state in which the election was conducted.
Expressing concern, the judge described the allegations as serious, Live Law reported.
“Twenty thousand people could not vote,” the news agency quoted Jayakumar as saying. “They are working for you [Election Commission]…Why are you so adamant?…It is your duty to ensure that they vote. It is very unfortunate.”
Votes for the Assembly elections in Kerala will be counted on Friday.
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