Election Commission introduces vote-from-home for citizens aged 85 and above

Senior citizens who aged above 85 years and persons with disabilities can opt for postal ballots and cast their votes from homes, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday while announcing the schedule for the polls beginning April 19.

"Generally the tendency has been that the senior citizens want to participate in the process and walk to the booth. But this time, we have given them options to vote in their homes," said Kumar.

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The Lok Sabha polls 2024 will be held from April 19 in seven phases across the country, chief election commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar announced here on Saturday. The last phase of voting will be held on June 1, the CEC said. The results of Lok Sabha Polls 2024, Kumar said, will be declared on June 4, the day of counting.

The facility can also be availed by persons with more than 40 per cent disability, the panel said. The voters in the two categories must file Form 12 D with the Election Commission within five days of the release of the poll notification. 

Also Read : Lok Sabha Election 2024 schedule out : 10 key highlights of seven-phase voting

The Union Law Ministry amended the Conduct of Elections Rules-1961 to change the definition of senior citizens who are eligible to choose the postal ballot facility from those “above 80 years” to those “above 85 years”.

As on March 10, 2024, there are 81,87,999 senior citizen electors above 85 years and 2,18,442 electors above 100 years in the country, the election commission said.