Home voting begins for Rajasthan bypolls on 7 Assembly seats

Jaipur: A total of 3,193 Rajasthan voters, including 2,365 elderly and 828 differently abled, on Monday started voting through post from their homes for bye-elections in seven Assembly constituencies.

Polling teams started reaching homes of these voters as per a pre-determined schedule, an official said, adding that secrecy of voting is maintained in the presence representatives of political parties and candidates.

Chief Electoral Officer Naveen Mahajan said that as per the instructions of the Election Commission of India, senior citizens above 85 years and voters with more than 40 per cent disability are given the facility of home voting with their consent.

EVM-based voting will take place in the seven seats – Ramgarh, Dausa, Deoli-Uniyara, Jhunjhunu, Khinvsar, Salumber and Chaurasi – on November 13 and the results will be declared on November 23.

The election office said applications for home voting were received from 3,193 eligible voters till October 23.

Home voting was taken up after the final list of candidates for the bye-elections was ready and ballot papers were published.

Mahajan said that home voting will be conducted in two phases between November 4 and November 10.

All those voting from home will be informed in advance and the polling team will reach their homes between November 4 and 8.

If for any reason, the voter is not available at home at the scheduled time the polling team shall visit the house again on November 9-10 as a part of another effort, said an official.

According to the Chief Electoral Officer, during the Rajasthan Assembly General Election-2023, a total of 1,862 voters had used the facility of home voting in the seven constituencies.