Lucknow: Chief Electoral Officer of the state, Navdeep Rinwa said that the Election Commission of India has issued guidelines related to the construction and use of dummy ballot units being used by political parties and candidates to make voters aware. He said that the Commission has no objection regarding the dummy ballot units prepared by the candidates and political parties for the purpose of making voters aware and for publicity. Dummy ballot units may be made of wooden, plastic or ply board boxes, half the size of the official ballot unit, and may be painted brown, yellow or grey.
He told that like dummy ballot paper, there can be a provision to show the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate in the dummy ballot unit also. It may also have a battery-powered button and a lamp that lights up when the button is pressed. Similarly, the Commission has no objection to a candidate printing a dummy ballot paper using his name and symbol at a place where his symbol will appear in the actual ballot paper used in the elections to create awareness among the voters.
But the name and symbol of any other candidate contesting from the constituency should not be included in the dummy ballot paper. Dummy ballot paper can be printed in any color like brown, yellow or gray etc. But not in white or pink color. The dummy ballot paper should not resemble the actual ballot paper in size and colour.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that in order to maintain information about the election process, all political parties and candidates should completely follow the guidelines of the Election Commission of India on the use of dummy ballot units for campaigning. He has instructed all the District Election Officers to ensure strict compliance with the Commission’s instructions regarding the construction and use of dummy ballot units.
