Gujarat Police issues warrant against teacher after failure to join poll duty

A teacher of a government primary school in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city was detained by police and produced before a poll officer who had issued a warrant against her for not joining election duty citing the distance between her house and allotted area, an official said on Monday.

After taking into consideration her explanation and following her request, Deputy Collector and Assistant Returning Officer Umang Patel allotted Hinal Prajapati, who is a teacher in Chenpur primary school, poll duty near her residence in Gota.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls, the world’s biggest election exercise, will kick off on April 19 with the counting of votes set to take place on June 4 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a bid for a third consecutive term in office.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said over 97 crore voters 49.7 crore males and 47.1 crore females – were eligible to cast their vote in the polling process spread over 44 days and across 10.5 lakh polling booths. 

The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.