BHOPAL/KOLKATA: When Bhopal’s Jainab Ali hit 100 last year and wife Munni Bi 95, they celebrated by voting from home in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. About 63,000 others in the 80-plus age group availed of the facility, notching up an impressive turnout of 95% in the category. It would have been even higher but for the death of 1,091 voters between the time they filled form 12D – to claim the facility – and voting day.
Jainab and Munni Bi’s grandson Tipu Sultan told TOI on Saturday, “They are bedridden now. It would have been difficult for us to take them to the booth. Home voting is a very good initiative.”
The family of 112-year-old Ram Kunvar Bai of Bhopal Central constituency said they had to carry her to the booth in an autorickshaw for the 2019 LS elections, but she had voted from home in last year’s Assembly polls. “It was very convenient for us,” Bai’s granddaughter Prateeksha Shakya said on Saturday.
Kolkata octogenarian Biren Chatterjee said he was fortunate to get the facility in the 2021 Assembly elections. “At first, I was apprehensive about how secure home voting would be, but three polling personnel came and ensured no one else was in my room, not even my son. This year, too, I will cast my vote from home,” he said.
Nanibala Debnath, now 101 and one of Bengal’s oldest women voters, said the process is safe and secure. “I could cast my vote with privacy. I didn’t even tell my sons whom I voted for. I am looking forward to the experience this year too.”
The process is simple. The district election officer (collector) fixes the day for home voting before the main voting day. Voters will be provided the postal ballot at home. They can mark their choice of candidate on it, and poll officials will collect it from them five days after notification of the election.
Teams with 4-5 members each – comprising electoral officers, a videographer and police – visit the voter at home with a ballot box and a partition for privacy. The voting is videographed and the visit lasts about 20 minutes altogether. Their votes are counted with postal ballots.
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