Lok Sabha elections: EC move to help 3L people in Delhi to cast their votes from homes

NEW DELHI: Over three lakh people, including those above 85 years and persons with disabilities (PwDs), will be eligible to vote through postal ballots in the capital in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
As per the final electoral roll published in Jan this year after the summary revision exercise, Delhi has 2,63,771 voters aged above 80 years and 71,794 PwDs spread across seven Lok Sabha constituencies.Since the Election Commission has decided to allow those above 85 years to cast their votes from the comforts of their homes, officials said the number would come down to nearly three lakhs.
This is the first time that the facility will be available to the eligible voters in Lok Sabha elections. After the ministry of law and justice amended the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, on the recommendation of the Election Commission, in Oct 2019, those over 80 years and PwDs were able to cast votes through postal ballots in the 2020 Delhi assembly polls. Nearly 3,000 people had opted for it.
The rules were amended again in June 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, to extend the facility to those infected or suspected to be infected with the coronavirus. On the EC’s recommendation, the postal ballot facility was extended to those above 65 years. However, after the EC realised that providing the postal ballots facility to such a large number of people would not be practical, the rules were changed yet again in Aug 2020.
Changing the definition of senior citizens who are eligible to choose the postal ballot facility from “above 80 years” to “above 85 years”, the law ministry issued a gazette notification recently.
With the age bracket now changed, officials said they will soon make public the actual number of people who would be eligible for this facility in Delhi.
With 50,208 persons aged above 80 years, West Delhi may have the highest number of people who may be eligible for postal ballots, followed by Chandni Chowk and New Delhi. South Delhi has the least number of 29,349 voters aged 80 years and above.
North East Delhi has the highest number of 13,320 PwDs (with 40% benchmark disability) registered as voters, followed by 12,901 in West Delhi and 12,758 in North West Delhi. New Delhi has just 5,519 PwDs registered as voters.
As per the rules, people willing to avail the facility will have to fill up a form during the dates announced by EC. A team of poll officials will visit their house to facilitate postal ballots’ use before the actual date of polling.