BENGALURU: Service personnel posted away from their homes or those in Karnataka for poll duty have voted through electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS).
Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Postal Circle, S Rajendra Kumar said, “16,782 ballots have been booked so far by our circle and 15,440 of them have been delivered up to May 24.” This includes votes cast for the Lok Sabha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim polls, and byelections to 25 Assembly constituencies in 25 states.
"All post offices have geared up to implement the system. Applications will be available at special facilitation counters. Staff will be able to cast their votes, which will be sent to returning officers,”, he said.
ETPBS enables transmission of votes electronically. “The process involves end-to-end encryption and transmission protocol. Election officers evaluate votes through QR code,” he said.
A desktop application creates an electronic ballot. “Based on the constituencies, the ballot paper will be electronically transmitted to the service voters. The officer in charge will download the ballot paper on behalf of the voters. Such downloaded ballot papers will be transmitted manually or electronically using a safe network. Service voters will be supplied with a PIN to open the ballot paper,” he explained.
E-transmitted ballot papers will be booked without any postal charges. “After regular votes are counted, ETPBS votes will also be enumerated separately,” Kumar said. All post offices need to book ETPBS through Speed Post free of cost and none can reject it, he added.