JAGATSINGHPUR: A WhatsApp message sent to polling personnel has created a flutter in the district. The message, sent last week, asks officials on poll duty to visit the website of the Chief Electoral Officer of Odisha and check details relating to their polling station by entering information available with them.
The reason this sounds intriguing is that such information is not made available till a few days before the polls. Jagatsinghpur Parliamentary constituency and its Assembly segments will go to polls in the fourth phase on April 29.
As per the district information officer in-charge, National Informatics Centre (NIC) Tapas Kumar Patra, the website (www.ceoorissa.nic.in/viewroll.html) has not yet been updated with details pertaining to polling in the constituency. He said the WhatsApp message seems fake.
Nevertheless, it has led to apprehension among polling personnel who have questioned the move stating that details like names of presiding officers and other polling officials and booths are released only a few days before elections. This is done to ensure that the polling officials are not approached by candidates.
It has also led to discontent among women officials who discovered that they have been assigned booths in remote and inaccessible locations.