The State Election Commission (SEC) has begun the process for elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to be held in early 2022.
The commission has written a letter to all district Collectors asking them to submit an inventory of ballot boxes available in their respective districts by July 26. “The commission is in protracted correspondence with districts to ascertain the availability of ballot boxes, both in good as well as in repairable condition,” says the letter.
The SEC expressed its discontentment over the figures submitted by the district administrations and said proper inventory has not been done at the district level. It said the figures have been submitted in a mechanical manner that is found to be much less than the ballot boxes supplied to the districts.
“It is now proposed to have a central counting at block headquarters instead of counting at booth levels in the panchayat elections 2022, for which the requirement of ballot boxes would be total number of booths in the district. Therefore, there will be a substantial increase in the number of ballot boxes that will be used in these elections,” the letter states.
The commission directed the Collectors to ensure inventory of ballot boxes available in a district done by a senior district official, preferably the ADM or PD, DRDA, and submission of actual figures to commission by July 26.