Over 1,000 Mizoram policemen could not vote in Lok Sabha polls: Officials

In Mizoram, more than 1,000 policemen were deprived of their fundamental right to vote during the Lok Sabha polls conducted on April 19, according to state election officials. These officers, deployed on poll duty in other states ahead of the voting day in Mizoram, were unable to cast their ballots despite assurances of facilitation centres.

Officials from the Mizoram state election department revealed that although provisions were supposed to be made for the police personnel to vote at facilitation centres, no such arrangements were put in place due to their early deployment. This left the officers without any opportunity to participate in the electoral process.

Repeated appeals made by state authorities to the Election Commission to allow the police personnel to cast their votes were allegedly rejected, further exacerbating the situation. Despite efforts to secure their voting rights, the central poll panel purportedly turned down the requests, leaving a significant number of officers disenfranchised.

In response to this egregious denial of voting rights, the People’s Conference (PC) party penned a letter to the Election Commission principal secretary SB Joshi, urging the poll panel to rectify the injustice. The PC party emphasized the necessity of allowing the 1,047 policemen from Mizoram to exercise their franchise before the vote counting commenced.

Criticism has been directed towards the authorities for their failure to implement the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) for the police personnel, a mechanism that could have facilitated their participation in the electoral process.

( This news story originates from the PTI source feed )