Karnataka   

Bank staff to be drawn for poll duty in Karnataka

Bangalore: Blame it on elections if your public sector bank expresses its inability to respond to your needs in time. Bank employees are also being roped in for election duties this time as there is a severe shortage of polling staff in Bangalore. A directive from the Election Commission of India (ECI) in this regard has become a cause for worry for the managements of public sector banks in the city as they have to depute a large number their staff for poll-related duties.

Meanwhile, some of the public sector banks have made known their inability to depute their staff in large number saying some staff are on leave as their children are having summer vacation while others are under the process of shifting due to transfer. And, some branches are understaffed, among others, sources in the ECI said.

However, the ECI has made it clear to the banks and many other Union Government undertakings that there is a requirement for polling staff and directed them to depute the maximum number of employees for this purpose.

Following this, some of the banks, according to some senior staff members, are learnt to have instructed their branches to put out a notice informing the customers on the likely inconvenience in services.

According to the ECI sources, nearly 35,000 polling personnel are required for about 5,000 polling stations situated in the 28 Assembly constituencies of Bangalore. According to a senior officer, the requirement of staff has gone up more than twofold compared to the last elections. The problem of severe shortage of staff for poll duties, mainly in Bangalore, has cropped up due to the increase in the number of constituencies after delimitation, the norms laid down by the ECI for deputing government staff for poll-related duties and the introduction of a new concept called micro observer.

As per the ECI’s new norms, a micro observer has to be appointed to each polling booth (throughout the State) and these observes should be of the rank of Gazetted officers or Group “C” employees of Union Government or its undertakings and not those working for the State Government.

Moreover, government staff who are residing or working or natives of a particular constituency cannot be appointed for polling duties in that particular constituency. Even those retiring from service within a year are not eligible for this duty.

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