Persons above 80, those with more than 40 pc disability can vote from home in Chhattisgarh polls: CEC

Raipur: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said the persons above 80 years of age and those with more than 40 percent disability will be able to cast their votes from home through postal ballot in the coming Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.

More than two lakh voters in the state are above 80, he said.

"Voters above the age of 80 years will have the facility to cast their votes from home and the same facility will be available to the persons with disabilities (more than 40 per cent disability). For this, they have to fill up form 12D within five days of the notification of elections," Kumar said at a press conference here.

He was here for the last two days to review preparedness for the assembly elections which are yet to be announced.

These voters will also have a pick-up and drop facility if they wish to cast vote at a polling station, the CEC said.

An intensive drive will be carried out to enroll voters from the five particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) during the ongoing special summary revision (SSR)-2, he said.

The special summary revision of electoral rolls has been extended up to September 11 and the final voter roll will be published on October 4, he added.

The concerned administrative and law enforcement authorities have been directed to work in a coordinated manner and maintain strict vigil on the 105 inter-state border checks-posts to prevent illegal movement of liquor, cash, freebies and drugs during the polls, Kumar said.

Authorities have been asked to keep these check-posts operational with CCTV cameras installed there, he added.

The monitoring of private airstrips and helipads in the state will be conducted by the concerned agencies, and action will also be taken against liquor trade kingpins and big liquor suppliers (if found to be violating rules), he said.

Chhattisgarh has 1.97 crore registered voters comprising 98.5 lakh women, 98.2 lakh men and 762 transgenders, Kumar said.

There are 4.43 lakh first-time voters, 2,948 centenarians, 1.47 lakh persons with disabilities, 2.02 lakh voters in the 80-plus age segment and 19,854 servicemen voters, he said.

"An intensive drive will be carried out to enroll left-out electors belonging to five PVTGs- Abhujmaria, Kamar, Pahadi Korwa, Birhor and Baiga. These PVTGs have a population of 1.86 lakh and of them 1.15 lakh are over 18 years of age but only 1.13 lakh have been enrolled as voters," Kumar said.

The total number of polling booths in the state is 24,109, of which 900 'sangwari' ones will be managed by women staff and security personnel, and 90 booths will be managed by PwDs, he said.

All polling booths will have facilities like toilets and wheelchairs.

Under the 'nav vadhu samman samaroh,' 61,683 newly-married women have enrolled as electors by filling up form-8 for shifted voters, he said.

Vehicle permissions for the transportation of campaign materials for political parties have been increased from one to four vehicles. Social media cells will be established at the district level to respond to fake news in real time, the CEC said.

Through the 'Know Your Candidate' app, citizens can access information about candidates including their criminal records. It is now mandatory for candidates to publish their criminal records three times in the press, he said.

Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, other ECI members and the state's Chief Electoral Officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale were also present at the press conference.

The ECI team held meetings with political parties, law enforcement agencies, district collectors and superintendents of police (SPs) as well as the state's chief secretary and director general of police and other officials in the last two days.