District receives 117 applications to cancel election duty

- 216-gram panchayats to hold elections on Dec 18.

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad:

The gram panchayat elections are around the corner, however, the teachers are making rounds of tehsil offices, citing medical and other reasons, to cancel their election duties. All the tehsildars in the district have received the applications and the major three reasons cited include the wife is not well, having undergone bypass surgery and the marriage of the ward.

The voting to elect new bodies of 216 GPs will be held on December 18. The district election branch had roped in the staff from different government offices, apart from reserving 10 per cent of the staff.

There are nine tehsils in the Aurangabad district. A total of 117 applications requesting to cancel the duty have been received by the revenue administration. The tehsil-wise figures of applications received are as follows: Aurangabad (18), Vaijapur (17), Paithan (16), Phulambri (15), Kannad (13), Sillod (12), Gangapur (10), Khuldabad (09) and Soyegaon (07).

The tehsildar is the final authority to take decisions on these applications. They will cross-verify the medical reasons claimed by the staff to evade election duty. In Aurangabad, the tehsildar Jyoti Pawar will be taking decisions on the applications.

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A teacher’s union leader Manoj Patil said, “Our opposition is not to the election duty. The officers in the election machinery do not speak and behave properly. Hence our opposition is to this behaviour. The duty of personnel whose cases are genuine will get cancelled anyway.”

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The election branch officials said that the election duty is given to the employees roped in from all departments. If the applications are received then its scrutiny and decision to cancel the duty are taken at the tehsil level by the tehsildar.