Poll heat: DM asks office heads not to grant leave

Darjeeling: The District Magistrate, Darjeeling, who is also the district election officer, has issued an order to the heads of Centre and state government offices to not to grant leave to employees from March 1st 2019 to July 31, 2019 for election duties except on medical grounds.

The order issued on Monday to all heads of Centre, state government offices in the district excluding the Armed and Paramilitary Forces, states that in view of forthcoming general elections 2019,

the heads are requested not to grant leave to any employee considering election duties except on medical grounds after approval of medical

board.

"This step has been adopted to ensure smooth elections. As per Election Commission of India orders extensive training, including training for Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs), are to be conducted. This is for the first time VVPATs are being used. It is highly technical," stated Joyoshi Das Gupta, District Magistrate, Darjeeling.

New apps of the Election Commission of India like C Vigil will also be used during elections for which

well-trained and huge manpower is required. Flying squads, surveillance teams along with the sector magistrates and the regular polling personnel will also deployed for smooth conduct of elections.

However, despite all this Sundays and Government holidays will not be affected by the order stated the District Magistrate.