Jalpaiguri: Door-to-Door voting begins

Jalpaiguri: According to the Election Commission’s announcement, the first phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections will commence on April 19. However, starting from Monday, door-to-door voting for voters above 85 years of age and those with special needs, unable to physically go to the polling booths, commenced. This process will continue on April 9, 10, and 12. Jalpaiguri District Election Office stated 3,789 out of 1,884,637 voters in Jalpaiguri constituency will vote this way. Among them, 1,318 have special challenges, and 2,471 are above 85 years of age. 145 teams with reserves have been set up for door-to-door polling, each comprising polling personnel, a micro-observer, central force personnel, state police personnel and a videographer. Polling personnel started the polling process from residences in Jalpaiguri Sadar Block, Dhupguri Block, and others.

On Monday morning, a team of polling personnel visited the residence of Jharna Modak (88) in ward number 12 of the Dhupguri municipal area. They facilitated voting at her home, similar to the process in polling booths. Subsequently, they proceeded to the home of Dulal Chanda, a specially challenged individual in the same ward, to collect his vote. Dulal Chanda stated “Earlier I used to go to the booth to vote. However, this is much better for me and saves me a lot of trouble.”