Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg today visited the State Level Clearing Center established at ITI Chaura Maidan Shimla and gave necessary directions pertaining to exchange of un-casted Postal Ballot papers to further deliver the same to the respective ROs and AROs who will facilitate the voters deployed on the election duty.
He said that in this center, the officers/employees appointed by the Election Department from each assembly segment of the state exchanged about 12 thousand un-casted ballot papers. The data pertaining to these ballot papers have also been uploaded on a specially developed portal by the office of CEO.
The polling personnel will cast their vote at the Voters Facilitation Centre (VFC) (from 23rd to 25th May and 29th to 30th May) set up at their training venues. The other staff on duty that includes Police personnel, HRTC Staff and other staff will cast their vote at the respective place of duty in RO/ARO office at their place of election duty from 29th to 30 May, 2024.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that such a procedure has been adopted for the first time in the State to facilitate the voters in Himachal Pradesh in view of the amendment in the rules pertaining to postal ballots. He said that its main objective was to ensure that the postal ballot papers reach the Facilitation Center on time, so that the voters deployed on election duty can cast their votes without any difficulty.
The second round of exchange of un-casted portal ballots will be done on 28th May, 2024. After the polling process of above categories concludes, the postal ballots will reach the State Clearance Centre at Shimla on 2nd June for sending the same to the concerned Returning Officers (ROs) for counting.