MADURAI: A total of 503 government staff have sought exemption from election duty on medical grounds on the polling and counting days in Madurai district.
According to sources, a total of 14,780 officials are to be deployed for polling and counting duty in the district. They are undergoing training on operating EVMs and voter-verified paper audit trail units, polling procedures, polling station management and election regulations.
Out of them, 503 people have sought exemption from duty on medical grounds. However, only 46 staff with serious illness have been granted exemption following scrutiny from the Health Department.
Speaking to TNIE, Government Rajaji Hospital Dean L Arul Sundaresh Kumar said, “A large number of leave requests were scrutinised for the past few days. Requests of many people who had mild physical condition or those with improper documents were rejected. Staff suffering from serious ailments and mobility issues were considered. Those suffering from paralysis, kidney ailments, fractures were immediately recommended for leave. Besides, petitions from women staff, both post and pre pregnancy conditions, have also been accepted.”
An official from the district administration said, “These staff were assigned key responsibilities like transporting EVMs, election forms, materials to polling stations, ensuring replacement of faulty machines, and addressing issues at polling stations. Some of them are assigned duty to ensure safe transportation of EVMs to counting centres. Initially, more than 700 petitions were received and we found 503 fit enough to be sent to the Health Department for scrutiny. The staff were advised to submit medical fitness certificates mostly from government doctors. They were told to attach medical history records, original documents, and current prescription forms. We had to enforce the rule strictly since some staff started seeking exemption citing even minor surgeries done 10 years ago. Some senior staff will be given minor works at the polling stations.”