For the first time, the defence personnel can cast their votes by using electronic postal ballot facility at four Assembly constituencies in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections on February 4.
To facilitate the service voters, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) to help them in casting their votes in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections, said Punjab Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh.
He said that the Returning Officers (RO) of four Assembly constituencies — Atam Nagar, ludhiana (East), ludhiana North and Jalandhar West (Reserved) — were imparted training on Sunday.
Giving details, Singh said that this technological intervention would enable the facility for service voters to cast their vote using an electronically received postal ballot from anywhere outside their constituency.
The Army personnel and their wives could cast their votes for the first time in the ensuing Assembly elections in the State, he said.
The officer also said that ETPBS is totally secured with five-layer security system, developed by ECI with the help of C-DAC, for the use of service voters.
Service voter eligible for Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot can cast their vote through this system, he said.
The ROs of the four identified constituencies were given extensive training regarding this system by the team of ECI, headed by VK Shukla Director IT, he said adding that the vote ballot would electronically reach the service voter and would return through the postal system.