Karnataka elections to be held before May; EC introduces Vote-From-Home for senior citizens, people with disability

The Election Commission on Saturday said it has introduced the facility to Vote-from-Home (VFH) for people above 80 years of age and those with disabilities in the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka.

For the first time, the ECI is going to provide the facility to those above 80 years of age. Our teams will go there with a form-12D to exercise their franchise, the Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar told reporters. Though we encourage those above 80 years to come to the polling station, those who cannot avail this facility, he added. 

Secrecy will be maintained and the entire process will be videographed, Kumar explained.

For people with disabilities, a mobile application 'Saksham' has been introduced, which they can log in to and choose the facility to vote, the CEC said. Another mobile application, 'Suvidha' has been developed, which is an online portal for candidates to file nominations and affidavits. 

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"Political parties have to inform the voters on their portals and social media platform as to why they chose a candidate with criminal background and gave ticket to contest the election," Kumar said. 

There are 12.15 lakh voters above the age of 80 and 5.55 lakh people with disabilities (PWD). The state has 58,272 polling stations, including 24,063 in urban areas. The average number of voters in each station is 883. 

To a query on a possible election date, the CEC said it has to be conducted before May 24, when the tenure of the current assembly comes to an end. He directed the official machinery to gear up for fair and transparent elections in the state.