Telangana Elections: 'Vote from home' facility for voters above 80, persons with disabilities

Hyderabad: For the first time in Telangana, around 4.43 lakh senior citizens above the age of 80 years and persons with disabilities (PWD) of 40 % and above can opt to vote from the comforts of their homes.

Polling officials will visit their homes to enable them to cast their votes and all secrecy will be maintained by making a compartment like those made in polling booths. The entire process will be publicized, videographed and shared with political parties to maintain transparency. The senior citizens can apply to vote from their homes by filling up a form 12 D within five days of notification. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar announced it on Thursday at a press conference in Hyderabad.

Speaking about the poll preparedness for the forthcoming Assembly Elections in Telangana, the CEO focused on the aspects of inclusiveness, accuracy, transparency and purity and proper use of technology for a free, fair, transparent and inducement-free election.

On the final day of their visit to the city, the CEO also mentioned about meeting with the various political parties during the last two days. The Commission also had meetings with central and state enforcement agencies and other senior officers of Telangana.

Parties asked for inducement-free, freebies free election: EC

“We met the representatives of AAP, BSP, CPI (M), BJP, INC, AIMIM, TDP and BRS. They told us elections should be inducement-free in Telangana. They requested money-power, liquor, freebies distribution in the state should be cut. Some said that voter ID cards should be linked with Aadhar, timely distribution of voter information slips should be there, family members should be allotted to the extent possible the same polling stations. They wanted a level playing field, enhanced participation of urban voters etc, vigil over hate speech and social media were some of their demands,” informed the CEC.

Inclusiveness

Of the total 119 constituencies, 88 are general, 12 are STs, and 19 are SCs. The total electors as per the roll are 3.17 crore and male and female are almost equal at 1.58 crores, which indicates women empowerment. The gender ratio is 998.In order to make the voter list inclusive, 2,557 transgenders and 5.06 lakh persons with disabilities have been included apart from four PVTGs (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups with 39,000 eligible voters). There are 4.43 lakh senior citizens above the age of 80 years of which 7,689 are 100 plus.

Effort was made to include young voters in the 18-19 age group (8.11 lakhs). Through an amendment, for those who are turning 18 years, the eligibility date for becoming a voter need not be only January 1 of a year but can be every quarter of the year. Thus, 2.21 lakhs new young voters were identified and added. The CEC also said that usually in urban areas, voter turnout is less. So, efforts will be taken to increase the voting percent in urban areas.

Transparency and purity

The EC informed that deletions from the electoral roll was done only when Form 7 was received and ground verification was done by Block Level Officers, deletion was not done suo moto. All deletions have been verified. A total of 22L dead and duplicate voters have been deleted between 2022 and 2023. 757 teams made for covering RWAs and 50,000 form 6 or 8 received either to add new voters or to make corrections. More than 1,000 meetings were held with representatives at every level so that the process of updating is inclusive, transparent and involved all political parties.

Polling stations exclusively managed by women and PWDs

There are a total of 35,356 polling stations and the average number of voters at each station is 897. “We will have polling stations exclusively managed by persons with disabilities and women including security forces. All polling stations should have basic facilities including toilets, drinking water, signages and volunteers for helping PWDs. Voter information slips must be distributed beforehand,” informed the CEC.

Technology and apps to prevent corrupt practices

The CEC spoke about the importance of CVIGIL mobile Application to curb the use of money power and freebies during the elections. One needs to download the app and just take a picture of anything unethical happening anywhere –for example, distribution of liquor, money or freebies and anyone can upload it on the app, write a few sentences and post it. The location of the sender will automatically be taken from the coordinates. Within 100 minutes, the complaint will be verified but the identity of the complainant will not be disclosed. The complainant will be informed if the complaint was indeed genuine or unfounded and the action that was taken. This will greatly help in curbing the use of money power during elections. Also download voter helpline apps to download voter ID card, check your polling station etc.

To make the level playing field available to the candidates, Subidha App is provided. Know your candidate (KYC) app enables voters to know about the history of any candidate they would like to know about. If any candidate has a criminal background, the affidavit filed by the candidate will be available online so that voters can make informed choices.

Security measures

A total of 148 check posts in inter-state borders and strategic locations with CCTVs have been kept to ensure security and inducement-free elections. Enforcement agencies have been given orders to act strictly against use of money powers during elections, dry up inflow and distribution of liquor, cash, freebies and drugs. There will be strict vigil over retail liquor outlets, illicit online cash transfers through wallets. Banks have been asked to keep a watch.

There will be vigils on helipads, airstrips, railways, ambulances and even suspicious government vehicles. There will be special cells to check misinformation through social media. Social media cells will be established at district level to counter fake news and respond to the fake news in a real time manner.