AGARTALA, July 12(TIWN): Voting process for poll personnel concluded today with police and TSR jawans casting votes through election duty voter (EDV) facilitation centers, official sources said.
A highly placed source in the State Election Commission today said that voting was held in all 35 block facilitation centers of the stat. Voting started from 10 AM and continued till 4 PM in the afternoon.

Proper security was maintained in all facilitation centers, the source said adding that around 12 thousand police, TSR jawans were engaged for election duty in the state.

At least two additional polling officers were engaged for the EDV voting process. They had to sort the necessary documents submitted by poll personnel, an official said.

While many of the TSR jawans hail from outside the state, many of the rest were found rather uninterested towards casting votes in the election. Over 11,000 voters had applied under Form 16 of the State Election Commission to cast votes as EDV on July 11 – the first day of EDV voting. One additional day was allowed for security personnel including the police and TSR jawans to maintain law and order across the state.

Asked about the last date of EDV voting process, State Election Commission secretary Tamal Majumder said that no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the state.

"Quite a substantial number of voters cast their votes in the EDV facilitation centers today", Majumder said. He said that the figures could be stated on Sunday.

Reacting on the reason of relaxation in EDV voting for police personnel, State Election Commissioner Kumar earlier said that all policemen engaged in poll duty couldn't be feasibly shifted to EDV voting since it might cause disruption in the general law and order situation.

The EDV voting process was mostly held in facilitation centers set up in the block headquarters. In places having more number of voters as in Mohanpur block, the facilitation center was set up in colleges.