Madhya Pradesh by-polls: Postal ballots to be made available for elderly in Indore

Ahead of Madhya Pradesh assembly by-polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) in its new initiative has decided that people over 80 years of age, differently-abled, those engaged in essential services and COVID-19 positive patients in the home or institutional quarantine in Indore district will cast vote through the postal ballots. In order to ensure that maximum eligible voters can cast their vote through postal ballots, a detailed action plan has been prepared by the Indore district officials, said an official release. People who will be voting through the postal ballots will have to fill a consent form which will be available from October 9 till October 13, it added. 

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'No eligible voter should be deprived of postal ballots' facility'

On October 8, an event was organized at the Ravindra Natya Griha under the chairmanship of Collector and District Election Officer Manish Singh in connection with the training program initiative of the state government. Singh directed all the officers to strictly follow all the guidelines issued by the Election Commission within the prescribed time-limit. No eligible voter should be deprived of the postal ballots' facility, he added. Voting on 28 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh by-polls is scheduled to take place on November 3 and the results will be announced on November 10. Earlier in March, over 22 MLAs resigned from the State Assembly, giving way to BJPs Shivraj Singh Chouhan to take over as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister for the fourth time. 

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ECI allows postal ballots to voters above 80 yrs 

Amid the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Election Commission on Thursday has decided to allow postal ballots for voters above 80 yrs, disabled, those engaged in essential services, and COVID positive patients in the home or institutional quarantine, as per notification issued by EC. According to the latest update by MoHFW, Madhya Pradesh so far has recorded over 1,40,307 positive COVID-19 cases out of which 1,20,267 have recovered while 2,518 have died. In the past 24 hours, 1639 new cases, 30 deaths, and 2,228 recoveries have been reported. 

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(With ANI inputs)