Showcause notices issued to 6871 persons for remaining absent from Mumbai poll duties

Mumbai, Jan 11 (PTI) Showcause notices have been issued to 6,871 persons for remaining absent from the January 15 civic poll duties, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said on Sunday.

Of these 6871 officers and employees, 2,350 subsequently joined the election process, the BMC said in a release.

Police action will be initiated from Monday against the remaining 4,521 officers and employees who failed to report for training, polling-related work or other assigned duties despite repeated instructions, it added.

Those facing action include employees from BMC as well as nationalised banks, BEST, BSNL, HPCL, insurance companies, LIC, MHADA, MTNL, the postal department, railways, RCF and NABARD, among other government and public sector bodies, the release informed.

"The action has been initiated as per directives of BMC's Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr Ashwini Joshi. She gave this directive in a review meeting held at the civic headquarters in presence of senior civic officials earlier in the day," the release said.

Joshi said election duty is a constitutional and legal responsibility, and dereliction of duty is a serious offence.

"Police action, including registration of offences, imposition of penalties and departmental disciplinary proceedings, will be initiated against the 4,521 defaulting employees from Monday by serving notices at their workplaces," Joshi added.

The BMC elections involve over 1.03 crore voters, requiring deployment of a large number of personnel. However, a shortage of staff has been observed, forcing the administration to take strict decisions, the release said quoting Joshi.

"The first and second phases of training for officials deployed on election duty have been completed. Attendance at training sessions was mandatory. Officials who skipped training were given a final opportunity on January 10, but continued absence led to the initiation of action under election laws from Sunday," it said.

Civic polls in Mumbai will take place on January 15, while votes will be counted the next day. PTI KK BNM