3,500 govt employees get show-cause notices for dereliction of election duties

Pune: The Pune district election office (DEO) issued around 3,500 show-cause notices to govt employees across ranks for dereliction of election duties.Pune collector and district election officer Suhas Diwase told TOI that employees across ranks, from clerks to senior officials, were found dodging mandatory election training sessions with false excuses. "Some departments have completely failed to depute their staff for training. Strict action will be taken against them," he said.He said all those who did not attend the sessions were served notices.A senior election department official said penal action could follow if employees fail to respond to the notices.The Pune district has enlisted 60,000 staff for election duty, with training sessions underway before polling on Nov 20. Earlier, during Lok Sabha elections, the Pune district collector issued notices to 7,000 government employees for neglecting their election duties.Election officials said manpower remains a major challenge for conducting the elections and retaining trained manpower on polling day is of crucial importance. The indicted employees have been directed to give an explanation for their absence from the training, they said."Those having genuine reasons have been excused," added officials."At each polling station, there are a minimum of four staffers and at the eleventh hour, one is in need of more govt staffers to complete the polling activity. Hence, additional manpower is made available to each centre for the seamless polling. We are going to keep a strict vigil on the total number of govt staffers present for training in the upcoming sessions. The process of issuing notices to those found absent from training duties has already been ordered," he said. There are three training sessions, with one conducted last month, one this week, and one just before the polls.The Election Commission (EC) states that the disciplinary functions of the EC over officers, staff and police deputed to perform election duties shall extend to suspending any officer/official/police for insubordination or dereliction of duty; substituting any officer/official/police personnel by another such person, and returning the substituted individual to the cadre to which he belongs, with an appropriate report on his conduct; and making recommendations to the competent authority for taking disciplinary action for any act of insubordination or dereliction of duty while on election duty.Pune district has 21 assembly constituencies with 88 lakh voters. There has been fresh registration of more than two lakh voters which led to an increase in polling stations. At present, there are 8,427 polling stations and 45 auxiliary polling stations.GFX STRICT ACTION FOR FAIR ELECTIONPune collector and district election officer Suhas Diwase said employees across ranks, from clerks to senior officials, were found dodging mandatory election training sessions with false excuses88 lakh: Voters in dist60,000: Govt staffers in Pune district for election duties8,427: Polling stations in dist45: Auxiliary polling stations in distQuote:We are going to keep a strict vigil on the total number of govt staffers present for training in the upcoming sessions. The process of issuing notices to those found absent from training duties has already been orderedSuhas Diwase | Pune collector and DEO