ECI enables postal ballot facility for elderly, PwDs, service and duty voters

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced comprehensive measures to facilitate voting through postal ballots for elderly citizens, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), service voters, and those deployed on election duty in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Invoking provisions under Section 60(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Commission has allowed electors above 85 years of age and PwDs identified in the electoral rolls to cast their votes via postal ballot. Eligible voters can avail this सुविधा by filling Form 12D and submitting it to the Returning Officer through their Booth Level Officer (BLO) within five days of the election notification.

Polling teams will visit such voters at their residences to collect ballots, following a schedule prepared by the respective Returning Officers. This schedule will also be shared with contesting candidates to ensure transparency in the process.

The facility has also been extended to voters engaged in essential services on polling day. These include personnel from fire services, healthcare, electricity, traffic management, ambulance services, aviation, and long-distance government transport corporations. Such voters can apply for postal ballots through designated nodal officers in their departments.

Additionally, media personnel authorized by the ECI for election day coverage have been categorized as absentee voters under essential services, making them eligible for the postal ballot option.

Voters assigned election duty will receive their postal ballots at designated facilitation centres, where they can cast their votes while maintaining complete secrecy, as per ECI guidelines.

For service voters, postal ballots will be transmitted electronically through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) by the Returning Officers once the list of contesting candidates is finalized. These voters are exempted from postal charges.

The Commission has specified that all postal ballots must reach the concerned Returning Officers by 8:00 AM on May 4, 2026, the day of counting of votes.