Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India Friday announced November 3, 2020 as a public holiday in Tirtol and Balasore Sadar Assembly constituency segments in the view of upcoming by-polls.
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The ECI also accorded paid leave only for one day to all employees including government and private organisations who belong to the two Assembly constituency segments in order to facilitate polling.
“Any person employed in government and private organisations and entitled to vote in elections shall be granted holiday on the day of polling November 3. No deduction of wages of any such person shall be made on account of the holiday,” ECI Office circular read.
Section 1358 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 provides for the grant of paid holiday to all employees on the day of polling, the circular issued by Chief Electoral Officer Odisha emphasised.
The CEO Odisha Sushil Kumar Lohani said, “Government servants who will be deployed on election duty in connection with the bypolls to 38-Balasore Sadar and 102-Tirtol (SC) Assembly constituencies shall be allowed Special Casual Leave (SCL) for one day after attending to their election duties. This shall be granted in addition to CL and SCL ordinarily admissible to them during the calendar year 2020.”
However, this facility shall be extended only to those who are engaged for a period of three days or more during the election. This will obviously be granted subject to administrative convenience.
PNN