The State Election Commission (SEC) is trying to work out how people who test positive for COVID-19 or go in quarantine on the eve of the local body elections can be allowed to exercise their franchise safely.
The guidelines issued by the SEC on Wednesday prescribe postal ballots for COVID-19 patients and persons in quarantine. However, there are procedural difficulties involved in issuing postal ballots to people who test positive or in quarantine on the days immediately preceding the elections.
State Election Commissioner V. Bhaskaran told The Hindu that a solution would be worked out through discussions with the Directorate of Health Services.
No proxy voting
At the all-party meeting convened by the SEC on September 18, political parties had shot down a proposal to allow the two groups to assign proxy voters. The parties had asked the SEC to devise a solution.
The other option, allowing patients and the quarantined to cast their votes in the last hour of voting also is fraught with difficulties. Many voters who fall in these categories would be hesitant and it would also entail putting polling officials at risk, say SEC officials.
SEC officials are hoping that the COVID-19 caseload in the State and the number of containment zones would significantly come down by December.
Although the local body elections are due in early December, the SEC has not announced the dates yet. The elections are to be held in two phases.
Elections will be held in 15,962 wards in 941 grama panchayats; 2,080 wards in 152 block panchayats; 331 wards in 14 district panchayats; 3,078 wards in 86 municipalities; and 414 wards in the six municipal Corporations.
