A teacher of a government primary school in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city was detained by police and produced before a poll officer who had issued a warrant against her for not joining election duty citing the distance between her house and allotted area, an official said on Monday. After taking into consideration her explanation and following her request, Deputy Collector and Assistant Returning Officer Umang Patel allotted Hinal Prajapati, who is a teacher in Chenpur primary school, poll duty near her residence in Gota.
"She was was selected to work as Booth Level Officer or BLO in Ghatlodia area of the city in February but she did not join duty. Instead, she sent us a written representation saying she cannot join duty because Ghatlodia is far from her house in Gota. She requested she be given duty in a nearby area," said Patel. She was asked to come and explain her stand and a warrant was issued by Patel under the Representation of the People Act after she failed to do so.
"Since we have limited time in view of the approaching polls, we issued a warrant against her and asked the local police to produce her at the executive magistrate's office in Gota where I sit. She was given duty near her house as we found her reasons genuine," Patel said.
Lok Sabha elections 2024
The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls, the world’s biggest election exercise, will kick off on April 19 with the counting of votes set to take place on June 4 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a bid for a third consecutive term in office.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said over 97 crore voters – 49.7 crore males and 47.1 crore females – were eligible to cast their vote in the polling process spread over 44 days and across 10.5 lakh polling booths. The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
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