COIMBATORE: Over 3,000 government employees from the district have submitted applications asking officials to exempt them from election duty. Officials said a special committee headed by the joint registrar of the cooperative department and a nodal officer has been tasked to verify the reasons given by the staff seeking exemption.
Coimbatore has two Lok Sabha constituencies, Coimbatore and Pollachi. As many as 3,096 polling booths have been set up for the upcoming elections and names of polling duty staff have also been listed. 12,834 staff are listed for working 3,096 booths. Also, 20 per cent of staff are kept as a reserve for the election work. Hence, a total of 15,806 have been listed for election work. Meanwhile, 3,000 have applied for relief from work for various reasons.
An official said, “Those seeking exemption due to medical reasons are advised to attach a medical certificate. Similarly, it is also advised to attach proofs. Doctors will examine the submitted medical certificates and then the leaves will be granted on their advice. Applicants are exempted from the selection process for reasonable claims. Thus, the election work will not be affected in any way.”