ETPBS ballot paper will reach to one lakh service voters
Mumbai, March 24:- The election commission of India has made available the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETP BS) for the personnel working in military, Army personnel, Central and state armed forces (service voters) and those who are deputed in foreign nations for government service, Indian officers and employees. Till date, more than one lakh eight thousand service voters have been registered and the ballot paper will be reaching them, electronically. The election commission of India has developed the ETPBS system with the assistance of C-DAC.
This ETPBS system was first used in India in the year 2016 during the by-elections of Puducherry state assembly in the Nellithope Assembly Constituency. With the assistance of this system, the ballot paper can be reached to the service voters in a online manner. The nodal officers or the employees of the armed forces (or other service) gather the applications of service voters and send them to district Election Officer(DEO) who in turn makes a list of all the service voters in the related constituency and send it to electoral registration officer (ERO) who takes the decision on that applications.
Generally, the ballot paper is send to the service voters using online ETPBS system, 10 days before the elections. Due to this, the one way time required as compared to the traditional way of sending ballot paper by post, is saved and this releases the burden of election administration. These ballot papers are to be downloaded and printed. After casting the vote, the ballot paper is sent in prescribed manner. No postal tickets are required for sending this ballot paper.
Who are eligible:- Those military and Paramilitary personnel who are out of their constituency for service, personal from armed Force of the centre, the armed force of the state government who are out of the state for duty during the election period, wives of such personals who are staying with them, the officers of Indian government service and other employees who are working in foreign land for discharging government service, (Overseas voters)
Salient features:-
*The ETPBS system has two level security.
*Have one time password (OTP) and PIN number is required for downloading the electronically transmitted postal ballot.
*Unique QR code is used which stops the duplication of Postal ballot paper.
According to the final voters list of the state published this year, one lakh four thousand 435 service voters existed. Until now four thousand voters has been added. The process of registration for service voter is yet on and according to final voters list One lakh two thousand 617 male and one thousand 818 women service voters exists. Maximum of the service voters are from Satara Lok Sabha constituency whereas the least number are from Mumbai North.
Lok Sabha constituency the constituency wise figure of service voters based on final voters list is as follows:-
Nagpur- 806, Gondia -two thousand 612, Gadchiroli- Cheemur- one thousand 239, Chandrapur- one thousand 556, Yavatmal- Washim- One thousand 319, Wardha- One thousand 325, Ramtek- One thousand 584, Hingoli- One thousand 131, Nanded – One thousand 422,Parbhani- One thousand 259, Beed- four thousand and eight, Osmanabad- three thousand 321, Latur- Two thousand 975, Solapur- One thousand 591, Buldhana- three thousand 823, Akola- three thousand 206, Amrawati- two thousand 435, Jalna- Two thousand and five, Aurangabad- One thousand 290, Jalgaon- Five thousand 640, Raigad- One thousand 330, Pune- 696, Baramati- Two thousand 93, Ahmadnagar- Six thousand 603, Raver- One thousand 812, Madha- Four thousand 354, Sangli- Five thousand 692, Satara- eight thousand 701, Ratnagiri- Sindhudurg- 980, Kolhapur- five thousand 738, Hatkanangale- three thousand 709, Nandurbar- 902, Dhule-three thousand 57, Dindori- three thousand 851, Nashik- two thousand 638, Palghar- 274, Bhiwandi-285, Kalyan- 471, Thane- 534, Mumbai North- 117, Mumbai North West- 147, Mumbai North East- 317, Mumbai North Central- 133, Mumbai South Central- 192, Mumbai South- 220 Mawal- 597, Shirur- One thousand 818 and Shirdi- two thousand 487.
