Teachers struggle to reach polling station in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: Teachers from ten government schools in Valparai struggled to reach their polling stations on Monday as they were shifted in the district at the eleventh hour.Further, the teachers could not cast their votes in the Valparai seat due to the transfer despite having election duty certificates (EDC) issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

A teacher, on condition of anonymity, explained that those with EDCs issued by the ECI would be able to cast their votes as usual at their polling booths if deputed in their native constituencies. “But, now I will not be able to vote in the Valparai constituency on April 6,” he said. “As the orders were received only on Monday morning, we had a lot of difficult in reaching the allotted polling stations.” 

Nine teachers with EDCs to cast votes in Valparai have been transferred to Coimbatore North, Pollachi, Sulur constituencies, sources said. An official said that the transfers were made due to staff shortage. We have assured the teachers that they would be able to cast postal votes on April 9.”