Poll officials themselves fail to exercise their voting rights

HYDERABAD: Election officials who have been egging voters to “check your vote, re-check your vote and exercise your vote” have themselves failed to exercise their franchise in the recent assembly elections.

According to data from Election Commission, less than 9,000 votes were cast through postal ballots in Hyderabad district during the 2023 assembly elections.Charminar had recorded the lowest votes, 277, followed by Bahadurpura (331) and Goshamahal (379) constituencies.
With this being the scenario of the 2023 election, the upcoming election raises questions whether the officials would exercise their right to vote and, if they would utilize the postal ballots provided by EC.
These figures represent the votes cast by election staff of around 20,000 having their voter IDs in Hyderabad, indicating a postal ballot voting percentage of less than 50%. On the other hand, the number of postal ballot votes saw a substantial increase in the 2023 assembly elections compared to the previous one held in 2018. In the earlier election, merely 2,247 voters had cast their votes through postal ballots. However, this figure rose to 8,934 in the recent 2023 assembly polls.
Election wing officials state that 16,870 polling staff would utilize postal votes in the Secunderabad, Hyderabad parliament constituencies, as well as the Secunderabad Cantonment bye-elections. The postal ballot voting, which began on May 3, would continue until May 8. On the first day, approximately 852 polling staff cast their votes, while on the second day, 2,368 exercised their franchise. On the third day, 2,003 officials cast their votes, taking the cumulative to 5,223 personnel exercising their franchise.
GHMC commissioner and Hyderabad district election officer Ronald Rose said all election officials were informed via SMS to cast their votes without fail.
“In the previous assembly elections, the vote percentage by poll duty was not upto the mark. This time we have ensured that all polling staff exercise their vote and ensure that we register 90% of the voting percentage. With three days remaining for postal ballot voting, we expect more officials to engage in the electoral process,” he added.