VIJAYAWADA: Even after the end of Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, employees are voicing out their concerns over the complexities of the postal ballot process, which they believe is causing a significant number of ballots to be invalidated. They are increasingly worried about their votes being not counted, as evidenced by the high invalidation rate in previous elections with 16% in 2014 and 20% in 2019.
Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the State with the highest voter turnout in the general elections so far, with a cumulative polling percentage of 81.86 and the winning chances of the candidate may be with slender margin votes. Hence, the postal ballots whose turnout is nearly 95 per cent, is expected to play a key role in determining the fortunes of candidates.
Leaders of various employee unions, during the exercise of their franchise through postal ballots, pointed out that the existing system, unchanged since 1956, requires employees to follow a lengthy and intricate procedure involving multiple steps and stringent verification process. This includes having the postal ballot recognised by a gazetted officer, filling of declaration form, and properly sealing the ballot in multiple covers, all of which contribute to frequent errors and subsequent invalidation of votes. Despite being called a postal ballot, employees cast their votes at designated polling booths.
Speaking to TNIE, Municipal Teachers Federation of Andhra Pradesh State president Somarouthu Ramakrishna emphasised, “The current method, which has been in use for decades, poses significant difficulties for our employees who actively participate in the election process. In the 2019 Assembly elections, 59,000 votes out of 2,00,000 postal ballots were declared invalid due to the cumbersome procedure.”
According to the Election Commission, 4,97,718 postal ballots were cast in the State. The deadline for these ballots to reach the Election Commission through the postal department is June 3. As of May 9 (the last date for employees on election duty), as many as 4,44,218 votes were cast by State government employees, 13,700 by senior citizens above 85 years old, 12,700 by voters with special needs, and 27,100 by other emergency service workers.
The union urged the Election Commission of India by writing a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner to simplify the postal ballot process by considering the vote in the small cover as a valid postal vote and extending the deadline for casting postal ballots till June 3.
Postal ballot will be rejected in case of...
Non-signing of the declaration form by the employee
Not entering the serial number of the ballot paper in the declaration form
Absence of attestation by a gazetted officer on declaration Form-13B
Improper sealing of the voted postal ballot
Putting both the postal ballot and the declaration form in the same cover
Marking either above or below the candidate’s symbol instead of on the symbol