Till now it was understood that COVID-19 patients and those in quarantine had only the postal vote facility.
The Kerala government has now gone a step ahead and has decided to allow COVID-19 patients and those in quarantine to physically reach polling booths and cast their vote.
To facilitate the physical voting of those with communicable diseases, amendments will be made to the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act and Kerala Municipality Act. The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
The amendments are essentially to revise the poll timings. As it stands, the poll timing is from 7 a.m to 6 p.m. The amendments will now set apart the last one hour of polling, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., exclusively for those with communicable diseases like COVID-19 and also for those prohibited from any kind of social engagements because of their medical condition.
The State Election Commission had earlier limited the franchise of COVID-19 patients to postal voting. But the Cabinet was of the view that the conditions for postal voting could have prevented many from casting their votes.
First of all, those wanting to cast postal votes should submit an application to the returning officer at least three days before the day of voting. Besides, the ballot paper on which the vote has been cast should be sealed and handed over two days before the polling day.
This would mean that those who contract COVID-19 on the day of polling or a day or two before would not be able to cast even postal votes. This is why the Cabinet has decided to make arrangements for the physical voting of those even with COVID-19.
The precautions to be taken and facilities to be made available at the polling booths would be drawn up by the Health Department and handed over to the Local Self Government Department.
Kerala goes to polls in December
Kerala is set to conduct a three-phase polling to elect people's representatives for more than 1,000 three-tier local self-government bodies with voters in four districts each going to the booths on separate days, starting December 8.
In all, voting would be held for 1,199 local governments out of the 1,200 in the state. Mattannur Municipality is the lone local body where elections would be held only two years later.
Concerns over the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic in the state delayed the announcement of the elections as well as influenced the decision on holding them over three days.
The voting dates are December 8, 10 and 14.
In the first phase, on Dec 8, voting would be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki districts.
In the second phase, on Dec 10, it is the turn of Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad districts.
In the last phase, on Dec 14, voting has been scheduled for northern districts Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod.
The Commission urged all voters to take necessary precautions against COVID-19. Masks and the regular use of sanitizers are mandatory at the voting centres.
The candidates would know their fate at the hustings on December 16 and the new governing body will be sworn in before December 31.
