Postal voting for Erode East bypoll concludes; polls to take place on Feb 5

CHENNAI: The postal voting for the Erode East bypoll which is all set to take place on Feb 5, began on Jan 23 and concluded on Monday.

The Election Commission has made preparations to ensure a smooth election process, including arrangements for postal ballots for eligible voters. Steps have been taken to collect postal votes in advance from people over 85 years of age and the differently-abled who are unable to come to the polling booths during the election.

According to a Maalaimalar report, those who wish to cast postal votes in advance with the '12D' form were asked to apply.

In the Erode East assembly constituency, 256 voters, including 209 out of 2,529 voters above the age of 85 and 47 out of 1,570 differently-abled voters had come forward to cast postal votes. Following this, election officials went door-to-door to collect votes from them.

On the first day, 116 people, including 90 people over the age of 85 and 26 people with disabilities, voted. The postal voting, which lasted for four days was wrapped up on Monday. Officials said that out of the total 256 people, three were deceased and seven were are not at the specified address. Therefore, excluding these 10 people, the officials have received 246 votes as postal votes.

After the voting was completed, the ballot boxes were brought to the Erode Corporation office where they were sealed and stored safely. Officials said that the postal ballot boxes will be taken to the counting center on the day of counting.