Civic poll duty made optional for differently abled government staff

Earlier, the regulations mandated poll duty for all the government servants, including those who are disabled, in specified government departments. But, after a petition given by the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently-Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) to the State Election Commission urging to give an exemption to disabled people from the poll duty, the Election Commission issued new orders on Saturday making poll duty for the disabled people optional.

If the disabled government servants opt to stay exempted from the poll duty, they can present their handicapped certificates to the District Election Officer and will be exempted from the election duty, the order stated.

The application submitted to the election officer must explain the disability of the person and should also specify the reason of why the person is unable to carry out the poll duties on the election day. The district election officer will review and verify the documents presented by the person and grant exemption for serving the duty during elections. A similar provision exists with the Election Commission of India for granting exemption from poll duties after anorder was passed in 2008, however, not many are awareof the same.

Various associations that work for the rights and welfare of the differently abled people, welcomed the move. “Not all the disabled people are able to discharge election duty comfortably as travel and other works that involve straining can be troublesome to them. We are happy that the EC has made it optional for disabled people to be on poll duty,” said S Namburajan, State General Secretary, TARATDAC.