Over 80? Vote from home this Karnataka assembly polls

BENGALURU: After work-from-home, it seems it's now time for vote-from-home!
Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that it will be experimenting with a vote-from-home option by rolling it out to voters aged 80 years and above and to persons with disabilities (PwD) during the forthcoming Karnataka assembly elections.
Rajiv Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, told the media here on Saturday that this will be the first time that such an option will be tried out in India. Eligible voters can avail of the facility by submitting a special form within five days from the issue of poll notification and the same will be communicated to the candidates of political parties. Voting will take place at home and ECI will videograph the entire process to secure the secrecy of ballot.
Reviewing poll preparedness in the state, Kumar said: "Karnataka has a considerable population of senior citizen voters, including centenarians. For the first time, we (ECI) will provide an opportunity to these voters to vote from the comforts of their homes. ECI will facilitate the process if these voters wish to vote from their homes. Our teams will go and help them."
Karnataka has 16,976 centenarian voters
Explaining the process, the CEC further said: “Form 12(D) will be made available for this purpose and eligible voters can make use of this option by submitting the form within five days of notification of polls. The voters’ decision will also be communicated to the candidates in advance. The entire process will be recorded on camera. It will be entirely transparent and I am sure citizens will takeadvantage of this facility.”
Senior citizens
According to ECI data, Karnataka has witnessed a considerable increase in the number of senior citizen voters. Out of the 5.21 crore voters, there are 12.15 lakh voters in the 80-plus age group. This apart, the state has about 5.55 lakh speciallyabled voters (PwD).
Kumar said Karnataka has 16,976 centenarian (100-“an impressive number for any state”.