ECI to Facilitate Postal Ballot Voting for Elderly, PwD, and Service Voters

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that it will provide postal ballot voting facilities for select categories of voters during the upcoming Bihar Legislative Assembly elections and bye-elections in eight Assembly constituencies across six states and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

🔹 Legal Provision

• The facility has been extended under Section 60(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
• It allows:
  • Elderly electors aged 85 years and above, and
  • Persons with benchmark disabilities (PwD)
    to cast their votes through postal ballots.

🔹 Procedure for Availing the Facility

• Eligible voters must submit Form 12D to the Returning Officer through their Booth Level Officer (BLO) within five days of the election notification.
• Designated polling teams will then visit the homes of such voters to collect their ballots, ensuring convenience and accessibility.

🔹 Essential Service Voters

• The ECI has also extended the postal ballot facility to voters engaged in essential services on the day of polling.
• This includes personnel from:
  • Fire services
  • Healthcare
  • Electricity supply
  • Traffic management
  • Ambulance services
  • Aviation
  • Long-distance government road transport corporations
• Such voters can apply through a designated nodal officer within their respective departments.

🔹 Service Voters

• For service voters (such as armed forces personnel and those posted abroad), postal ballots will be transmitted electronically through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS).
• Transmission will begin immediately after the publication of the final list of contesting candidates.
• Service voters will not have to bear any postal delivery cost.