NEW DELHI: The latest exercise of home voting by the Delhi poll body for the Lok Sabha elections has generated an interest, with many political stalwarts opting to cast their votes from the comfort of home.
Former Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Union Ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Lal Krishna Advani have availed this facility and casted their votes from their residences in the New Delhi constituency.
The exercise, which started from Thursday, has seen participation of nearly 3,000 voters. The facility is extended to all those who are over 85 years of age and those with more than 40% disability.
So far, 2,956 voters have opted to been excercise their franchhise under the initiative with the highest participation witnessed in the West Delhi constituency with 871 votes polled.
On the first day, when 1,482 voters exercised their franchise from home, the second day of home voting saw 1,409 voters cast their ballots from the comfort of their homes.
However, according to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, only 3.1% of the electorate above the age of 85 years and those categorized under Persons with Disabilities (PwD) eligible for home voting have registered themselves for the facility dispensed by the Election Commission.
The number of such voters in the seven seats of Delhi is 1,75,303, out of which only 5,472 voters have registered themselves for voting from home, according to the official data.
The total number of elderly voters in the seven constituencies in the national capital is 97,823 while there are 77,480 PwD voters in the city.
Home voting facility has been made available for the first time in this edition of the Lok Sabha polls and will remain available till May 24. The exercise was undertaken previously in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections. Poll officials said the drastically low registration may indicate less voter turnout on the main voting day as well.
“Though conclusions can not be drawn since it’s happening for the first time in a parliamentary elections, but it remains a point of worry,” the official added.