MP election office yet to receive over 1 lakh postal ballots

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh election office is concerned over a large number of postal ballots not being deposited with it after the November 25 Assembly polls.

As per official information, a total of 3.60 lakh government employees, who were posted on polling duty, were allowed to cast their vote through postal ballots, provided to them since November 14. As per the state Chief Electoral office, it has received 2.34 lakh postal ballots so far. However, 1.26 lakh postal ballots have not been deposited with it. The Election Commission has stipulated that the postal ballots should be deposited with the Returning Officer at the most an hour before counting of votes polled in EVMs begins on December 8. This has been done as postal ballots are to be counted before the counting of regular votes. State Chief Electoral Officer Jaideep Govind said the fact that such a large number of postal ballots were not yet deposited was a matter of concern. Steps would be taken to ensure that all the postal ballots are received before December 8, he said. However, state Congress unit spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi, while expressing concern over the matter, alleged that bungling of postal ballots occurred even during the 2008 elections. State BJP unit spokesman Hitesh Vajpayee also said he was worried about it and that government employees must be asked to deposit their postal ballots in time. Political experts are of the view that such a large number of postal ballots can play a decisive role in the formation of the next state government.