Hassan district administration has received complaints alleging that the election staff, who are entitled to vote through postal ballots, are being pressurised and offered inducements to vote for a particular political party.
The Election Commission issues postal ballots to the polling staff in advance. They have to exercise their franchise and place the paper in a designated box at the office of the Returning Officer.
The complaints received by the district administration suggest that a few officers of the Department of School Education and Literacy, and office-bearers of the district units of the Government Employees’ Association and Teachers’ Association are engaged in putting pressure on the election staff and also offering them inducements on behalf of political parties. They are also forcing the staff to hand over the empty ballot papers so that they could vote according to their choice before dropping them in the designated box.
