Election Commission press release · 19 March 2026 · pibtracker filter

ECI to facilitate Elderly, PwD and Service Voters and voters on election duty to vote using Postal Ballot in the upcoming Assembly Elections

PRID2242483 MinistryElection Commission Released19 March 2026 Reading9 min

Posted On: 19 MAR 2026 3:42PM by PIB Delhi Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states on March 15,2026. Notifications have been issued for Assam, Kerala and Puducherry on March 16, 2026 , as per the schedule. The Commission, as per Section 60(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, has notified that electors above the age of 85 years and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) flagged in Electoral Rolls may cast their vote through postal ballot. Such electors can avail this facility using Form 12 D and submitting to the Returning Officer through their BLO within 5 days of notification of election. Polling teams will collect their votes at their homes , as per schedule to be prepared by the respective Returning Officers and shared with the candidates as well. Electors on essential services on the date of poll can apply for the postal ballot facility through the designated Nodal officer of their respective department. Essential services such as Fire Services, Health, Electricity, Traffic, Ambulance Services, Aviation, long-distance Government Road Transport Corporations etc. are covered under this facility. Media persons authorized by the Election Commission for poll day coverage have also been included in the category of absentee voters on essential services and are entitled to postal ballot facility. A voter on election duty shall receive his postal ballot, record his vote thereon and return the same at the facilitation center . ECI has issued directions in this regard to ensure that voting takes place with complete secrecy for the voter at the facilitation center. Service voters will be sent their postal ballots electronically by the Returning officer through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) , immediately on finalization of list of contesting candidates. Service voters are not required to bear the cost of postal services. The postal ballots cast should reach the concerned Returning Officers (ROs) by 8:00 AM on the date of counting of votes i.e., May 4, 2026 . The Returning Officer (RO)/District Election Officer (DEO) have also been directed to brief the political parties/contesting candidates regarding the above provisions. ********** PK/GDH/RP (Release ID: 2242483) Visitor Counter : 6950 Read this release in: Urdu , Gujarati , हिन्दी , Bengali , Assamese , Tamil , Malayalam Election Commission ECI to facilitate Elderly, PwD and Service Voters and voters on election duty to vote using Postal Ballot in the upcoming Assembly Elections Posted On: 19 MAR 2026 3:42PM by PIB Delhi Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states on March 15,2026. Notifications have been issued for Assam, Kerala and Puducherry on March 16, 2026 , as per the schedule. The Commission, as per Section 60(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, has notified that electors above the age of 85 years and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) flagged in Electoral Rolls may cast their vote through postal ballot. Such electors can avail this facility using Form 12 D and submitting to the Returning Officer through their BLO within 5 days of notification of election. Polling teams will collect their votes at their homes , as per schedule to be prepared by the respective Returning Officers and shared with the candidates as well. Electors on essential services on the date of poll can apply for the postal ballot facility through the designated Nodal officer of their respective department. Essential services such as Fire Services, Health, Electricity, Traffic, Ambulance Services, Aviation, long-distance Government Road Transport Corporations etc. are covered under this facility. Media persons authorized by the Election Commission for poll day coverage have also been included in the category of absentee voters on essential services and are entitled to postal ballot facility. A voter on election duty shall receive his postal ballot, record his vote thereon and return the same at the facilitation center . ECI has issued directions in this regard to ensure that voting takes place with complete secrecy for the voter at the facilitation center. Service voters will be sent their postal ballots electronically by the Returning officer through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) , immediately on finalization of list of contesting candidates. Service voters are not required to bear the cost of postal services. The postal ballots cast should reach the concerned Returning Officers (ROs) by 8:00 AM on the date of counting of votes i.e., May 4, 2026 . The Returning Officer (RO)/District Election Officer (DEO) have also been directed to brief the political parties/contesting candidates regarding the above provisions. ********** PK/GDH/RP (Release ID: 2242483) Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states on March 15,2026. Notifications have been issued for Assam, Kerala and Puducherry on March 16, 2026, as per the schedule.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">The Commission, as per Section 60(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, has notified that electors above the age of 85 years and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) flagged in Electoral Rolls may cast their vote through postal ballot.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Such electors can avail this facility using Form 12 D and submitting to the Returning Officer through their BLO within 5 days of notification of election. Polling teams will collect their votes at their homes, as per schedule to be prepared by the respective Returning Officers and shared with the candidates as well.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Electors on essential services on the date of poll can apply for the postal ballot facility through the designated Nodal officer of their respective department. Essential services such as Fire Services, Health, Electricity, Traffic, Ambulance Services, Aviation, long-distance Government Road Transport Corporations etc. are covered under this facility.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Media persons authorized by the Election Commission for poll day coverage have also been included in the category of absentee voters on essential services and are entitled to postal ballot facility.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">A voter on election duty shall receive his postal ballot, record his vote thereon and return the same at the facilitation center. ECI has issued directions in this regard to ensure that voting takes place with complete secrecy for the voter at the facilitation center.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Service voters will be sent their postal ballots electronically by the Returning officer through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS), immediately on finalization of list of contesting candidates. Service voters are not required to bear the cost of postal services.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">The postal ballots cast should reach the concerned Returning Officers (ROs) by 8:00 AM on the date of counting of votes i.e., May 4, 2026.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">  The Returning Officer (RO)/District Election Officer (DEO) have also been directed to brief the political parties/contesting candidates regarding the above provisions.</li> ********** PK/GDH/RP " /> var mPlayer = document.getElementById("background_music"); var mPlayAction = document.getElementById("playbutton"); var isPlaying = false; function playAudio() { mPlayer.play(); isPlaying = true; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "none"; } function pauseAudio() { mPlayer.pause(); isPlaying = false; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "none"; } //function HandleAudio() { // if (isPlaying == true) { // //Playing already Pause it // pauseAudio(); // } else { // //Play the music // playAudio(); // } //} var synth = window.speechSynthesis; function CleanHtml(html) { html = html.replace(/ /gi, ''); return html; } function stripHtml(html) { let tmp = document.createElement("DIV"); tmp.innerHTML = CleanHtml(html); return tmp.textContent || tmp.innerText || ""; } $(document).ready(function () { //for responsive tables $("table").each(function () { if (!$(this).closest(".table-responsive").length) { $(this).wrap(" "); } }); var width = $(window).width(); if (width $(document).ready(function () { var width = $(window).width(); if (width @media print { .sticky-social, .sticky-social_mb, .pull-right, #printPDF { display: none !important; } } .f_vl { padding-right: 30px; font-size: 17px; cursor: pointer; } .log_oo { // width: 20%; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; } .log_oo img { width: 150px; /*width: 100%; height: auto;*/ } .sticky-social_mb { position: fixed; bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; width: 100%; } .social_mb { list-style: none; 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height: auto !important; } p img { max-width: 90% !important; height: auto !important; } h2 { font-size: 20px !important; font-weight: 600 !important; } h3 { font-size: 18px !important; font-weight: 600 !important; } } /* === Film Roll Badge Styling(IFFI2025 countdown) === */ .film-roll-badge { position: absolute; top:82%; right: 20px; width: 230px; height: 70px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 18px, #6e2b8b 18px, #6e2b8b 36px ); border-top: 8px solid #9a2375; border-bottom: 8px solid #9a2375; border-radius: 8px; overflow: hidden; box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); animation: moveFilm 8s linear infinite; z-index: 10; } /* film sprocket holes */ .film-roll-badge::before, .film-roll-badge::after { content: ""; position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 10px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 10px, #fff 10px, #fff 20px ); left: 0; z-index: 2; } .film-roll-badge::before { top: -4px; } .film-roll-badge::after { bottom: -4px; } .film-roll-inner { position: relative; height: 100%; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; animation: flicker 2s infinite ease-in-out; } .countdown-text { font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; color: #fff; text-shadow: 0 0 6px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4), 0 0 10px #000; white-space: nowrap; } /* === Animations === */ @keyframes moveFilm { 0% { background-position: 0 0; } 100% { background-position: 120px 0; } } @keyframes flicker { 0%, 100% { opacity: 1; } 50% { opacity: 0.9; } 25% { opacity: 0.95; } 75% { opacity: 0.85; } } /* === Responsive Adjustments === */ @media (max-width: 1500px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 68%; right: 18px; /* width: 220px; */ height: 65px; font-size: 0.85rem; } .press-section { margin-top: 35px; } } @media (max-width: 992px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 52%; right: 10px; width: 200px; height: 60px; } } @media (max-width: 768px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 56%; right: 10px; width: 124px; height: 55px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.9rem; } } @media (max-width: 576px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 59%; right: 5px; /* width: 160px; */ height: 50px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.85rem; } } const festivalStart = new Date("2025-11-20T00:00:00").getTime(); const festivalEnd = new Date("2025-11-28T23:59:59").getTime(); const countdownElement = document.getElementById("countdown"); const interval = setInterval(() => { const now = new Date().getTime(); // BEFORE FESTIVAL — show days + hours left if (now = festivalStart && now el.style.width = "350px"); clearInterval(interval); } }, 1000); //

Original PIB release
pib.gov.in · PRID 2242483

Open on PIB ↗

ECI to facilitate Elderly, PwD and Service Voters and voters on election duty to vote using Postal Ballot in the upcoming Assembly Elections

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