The home secretary of Tamil Nadu writes a circular the following day that penalizes servants for not casting a ballot

The Tamil Nadu home secretary, P Amudha, withdrew the circular that day after it was published, drawing criticism from public servants. The circular threatened to take away one day of either earned leave (EL) or casual leave (CL) from the leave account of those who did not vote. The circular was intended for employees of the departments of home, prohibition, and excise.

She said the “circular was withdrawn” when TNIE contacted her on Friday. Later on Friday, the department released a second circular in which it said that the directives included in the first circular had been revoked.

“All second-level officers are instructed to ensure that the staff under their control cast their vote properly,” said the home secretary’s circular, which was released on Thursday. If not, they can be asked for the OP-1 Section data in order to deduct a day’s worth of CL/EL from their leave balance in accordance with their eligibility. She emphasized that a public holiday was proclaimed on April 19 due to the Lok Sabha elections and the Vilavancode Assembly seat by-election.

In a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, President of the Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association (TNSA), K Venkatesan said, “The home secretary’s circular is against the rules of the Election Commission of India as well as the Constitution of India.” Furthermore, doing this would be interfering with people’s fundamental rights. A public worker who threatens her subordinates that CL/EL would be deducted from their leave account if they do not cast their ballots is abusing her position, since no one may even force their family members to vote.

According to Venkatesan, voters have the option to register their refusal to cast a ballot under rule 49-O of the ECI, meaning that even individuals in positions of authority cannot mandate that their staff members cast their ballots. “There has been extreme mental suffering experienced by the home department staff. Therefore, the CEO need to revoke the home secretary’s circular and take proper action against her. Venkatesan continued, “The CEO should make sure that the home department workers may vote without intimidation and that their rights are upheld.