2 lakh voters in Punjab can now vote from home as ECI increases age limit

Chandigarh: The Election Commission has increased the age limit to enable voting from home in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

In the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab, 2 lakh elderly voters above 85 years of age will be able to cast their votes from home, whereas in the last assembly elections, this facility was also available for voters above 80 years of age.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said that only those above 85 years of age will be able to vote from home in the Lok Sabha elections. The number of such voters is about 2 lakhs.

In the Punjab Assembly Election 2022, this facility was also available for voters above 80 years, and in the last assembly election, the number of voters in this category was 4 lakh.

Most voters in this age group showed interest in casting their votes at the polling booth itself. This is the reason why the Commission has decided to increase this age limit now.

He mentioned that data of all such voters is collected by block-level officers, and a door-to-door survey is conducted to determine how many voters want to cast their votes from home.

Only after this process is completed, the printing of ballot papers is initiated, and on the day of polling, the ballot paper is used to cast the votes of all such voters who are unable to come to the polling station. This process has been initiated by the department solely for the convenience of elderly voters.

The Chief Electoral Officer mentioned that the entire process of the Election Seizure Management System is now being done online, which will eliminate the problem of repeated entry of seized goods by different agencies.