Officials warned against lapses in giving details of staff for poll duty

Heads of government offices and nodal officers have been warned of stern action for lapses in furnishing details of employees for election duty in the Lok Sabha polls. After ‘stray incidents’ in this regard came to the notice of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (Kerala), District Election Officers (District Collectors) have been directed to examine the matter with the help of the secretaries of grama panchayats, municipalities, and corporations.

They have been asked to initiate action under the

People’s Representation Act against officials who err in this regard. The officers have also been asked to report back to the CEO’s office on the action taken against the officials.

CEO (Kerala) Sanjay Kaul has issued a circular clarifying the procedure for exempting certain sections of employees, in addition to those already listed for exemption by the Election Commission of India, from poll duty.

As per the circular, employees who need exemption for medical reasons should apply to the ORDER Cell controlled by the DEOs with supporting documents and medical certificate. For the elections, the deployment of officials is carried out through the ORDER software. In the case of couples, if both partners have been drafted orders for election duty, the cell can be approached for exempting one of them if needed.

The ORDER Cell at the district level is chaired by the District Election Officer or an officer of the rank of Subcollector and has as its members the District Medical Officer, District Nodal Officer of the Election Manpower Management, District Nodal Officer of the ORDER software and the Deputy Collector (Election).