THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The distribution of special postal ballots to voters, who are Covid positive or are directed to undergo quarantine, will begin on Sunday. As many as 300 officials have been deployed for the distribution process. This includes 150 Special Polling Officers and an equal number of Assistant Polling Officers. A team of 150 policemen have been deployed with the polling officials.
The training for Special Polling Officers ended on Saturday at the Collectorate conference hall. The Special Postal Ballot will be distributed to voters who have been included in the Certified List (CL) prepared by the Designated Health Officer. The first CL will be out by 3 pm on Sunday and it will be published at the same time every day, up to December 7.
The CL, sent to the Special Voters Cell by the Designated Health Officer, will be scrutinised and dispatched to the respective Returning Officers of block panchayat, corporation and municipality. The Returning Officers will in turn hand over the Special Postal Ballot to the Special Polling Officers under their respective jurisdiction. The CL will contain names of voters who turn Covid positive or are directed to undergo quarantine till 3 pm on December 7. Such voters will have to cast their votes through postal ballot only even if they test positive on or before the day of polling.
A total of 83 teams comprising Special Polling Officer, Assistant Police Officer and a policeman will be deployed at the block-panchayat level to distribute Special Postal Ballots in three-tier panchayats. In the corporation limits, with maximum number of Covid patients, as many as 40 teams will be deployed.