Polling officers in PPE kits and voters turning up in similar gear... There were scenes reminiscent of sci-fi films at some polling booths in Rajarajeshwarinagar and Sira constituencies on Tuesday. In all, 42 COVID-19 patients — 38 in Sira and four R.R. Nagar — walked into the booths to exercise their franchise with the help of polling officials.
Four persons with COVID-19 under home isolation — all men — were brought in ambulances to their respective polling booths in R.R. Nagar. They cast their vote during the last hour of polling. The Election Commission (EC) had identified 148 persons with COVID-19 eligible to vote in the constituency. None of the patients eligible to vote in R.R. Nagar had opted for the postal ballot.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) organised ambulances fetching these persons from their homes and dropping them back. Meanwhile, 12 other patients being treated at various hospitals had also expressed their interest in voting, but doctors advised them against going out, sources said.
In Sira, 38 voters with COVID-19, including 16 women, voted, apart from five primary contacts. This apart, election officials had received postal ballots from 105 patients. The poll officials monitoring the temperature of those who came in to vote also identified 17 persons who were running temperature on Tuesday. They were allowed to vote separately.
As part of the precautionary measures to ensure safe polling, the EC had thermal scanners and hand sanitisers in every booth, besides providing gloves for the hand used to press the EVM button. The number of polling booths had been increased as the voters per booth was brought down from 1,500 to 1,000 to avoid crowding. Sources in the EC said that the poll expenditure had increased by 50% as the logistics became more complicated. On an average, the EC had spent ₹2 crore during the 2018 Assembly elections.
