KOLLAM: The Chief Electoral Office has introduced a portal to curb all deceptive means used by government employees to avoid election duties. This time, the employees will be selected for election duty through the portal ‘Order’. Only valid reasons would be considered by the portal if an employee requests to be exempted from duty.

Until the last elections, many employees saw success by producing doctored medical certificates to escape from the burden of election duties. Some others used union influence to back out from the list.

The new portal was prepared by the National Informatics Center based on the idea of ​​Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay M. Kaul. The duty officer allotted by the government should wait for hours on the previous day of the election, collect the polling equipment and then wait until late at night to return the equipment. It is to avoid such laborious work that many employees find deceptive means to flee from this duty.

This time, the system of deputing special employees to deliver and receive the polling materials directly to the booth is under consideration. The move is to be implemented on an experimental basis in selected booths.

• The information of the employees will be included in the portal by the office heads

• Medical certificates of those with physical problems should also be attached

• The superiors should ensure the authenticity of the certificates

• The previous background of the employees will also be considered

If the medical certificate is rejected, the employee will be left with another opportunity to appeal before the District Electoral Officer.