EC to hold post ballot training for army

The Election Commission (EC) will organise a training programme for army personnel in Kolkata to familiarise them with the use of Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS).

The initiative is part of the EC’s countrywide drive to ensure that army personnel do not face any difficulty in the use of ETPBS. Similar programmes will be held across the country. In West Bengal, the programmes will be held at Fort William in central Kolkata on Saturday.

Currently 1,02,248 service personnel are included in the electoral roll.

The ETPBS system enables services voters to cast their votes by an electronically received postal ballots from anywhere outside their constituencies.

The release also stated that the EC will continuously monitor the movement of reserve EVMs and VVPATs and for that purpose vehicles carrying the related equipment must be fitted with GPS.

"The Commission has instructions for the use of vehicles with GPS tracking/Mobile based tracking for movement of EVMs & VVPATs. In order to ensure this, the Commission has instructed that the end-to-end movement of all Reserve EVMs & VVPATs shall be carefully monitored at all times, for which Sector Officers’ vehicles with reserve EVMs and VVPATs shall mandatorily be fitted with GPS tracking," stated the release.