MUMBAI: Barely two months after working in the general elections, around 10 per cent of the city’s 85,000-odd civic staff will have to take up duty for the upcoming state assembly elections. BMC authorities on Tuesday issued a notification allocating polling duties to 8,500 staff. 2,000 will be polling station staff, while the rest will handle backstage duties like door-to-door verification of voters, which was done in the Lok Sabha elections just three-four months ago. Polling station-level staff involved in the Lok Sabha elections will be deployed in the same constituencies as before. However, medical teachers, who protested against working on polling day for the general elections in May, have been exempted. Non-medical staff, clerical and legal staff in hospitals and class IV workers will have to work at polling stations. The selected employees will work on election duties three days a week – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – and engage in regular office duties on other weekdays, a civic circular said. “Without support staff, how can we clean the operating theatres (OTs)? What will be the schedule for surgeries?” asked a senior civic doctor. Just before the general elections, many city doctors complained that surgeries were being delayed due to unclean OTs. Another doctor said, “We can do something about it, but delays and long waiting lists will be inevitable.” Hundreds of personnel from the BMC’s health department, including ward-level malaria wardens, have been deployed. Several staff from health department-run clinics will also be absent. A municipal circular signed by Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani stated that every deputy commissioner must appoint one executive engineer as the central head of election work for each constituency in his/her district. The circular has caused considerable discontent among the municipal staff. With the BMC involved in monsoon-related work as well as day-to-day operations, it will be difficult to effectively manage both responsibilities, they said. “We have not been completely relieved from election work even after the Lok Sabha elections and we were reporting to election offices two days a week. Now, we have been asked to report for one more day,” the official said. The dates for the state assembly elections have yet to be announced, but there is speculation that they will be held within the next two to three months. Municipal officials pointed out that BMC staff will be involved in Ganeshotsav functions during that time, including granting mandal permissions and overseeing immersions. “It is unclear how they will juggle both responsibilities,” an official said. A senior official noted that the “dual duty order” will be particularly difficult as most civic departments are short-staffed. The BMC has an estimated 148,000 administrative posts, of which only 85,000 are currently filled. According to Election Commission rules, only full-time civil servants can be employed on election duty.
