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| Rs 10 lakh compensation to officials who die in poll duty | | | Agencies
New Delhi, April 17: Election officials and security personnel who lost their lives in Naxal violence during the first phase of Lok Sabha polls will get Rs 10 lakh compensation, the Election Commission on Friday said.
The Commission said the compensation amount has been doubled from Rs five lakh earlier.
Naxal violence claimed 18 lives in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa during yesterday's polling, the first of the five-phased staggered exercise.
The Commission in its communication to all states and Union Territories said that if the death is caused due to any violent acts of extremist or unsocial elements, the compensation would be Rs 10 lakh.
It cited instances like land mines, bomb blasts and armed attacks.
The poll panel said that in case of permanent disability like loss of limb and eye sight suffered by poll staff and security men, a minimum ex-gratia payment of Rs 2.5 lakh would be made. However, if such disability is caused by extremist violence, Rs five lakh would be given to the injured.
The Commission has said that the payment will cover any mishap during the entire period of election duty - from the time an official leaves residence to report for any poll related duty, including training, to the time he or she returns home.
A mammoth 40 lakh civilian officials and 21 lakh security personnel have been deployed for the smooth conduct of polls.
The Commission said if any mishap occurred during this period, it should be treated as having taken place on election duty subject to condition that there should be a causal connection between occurrence of death/injury and the election duty.
The Commission, from its past experience, has seen that even in cases of death of polling personnel on election duty, innumerable hurdles in releasing the compensation amount are created by the insurance companies, the EC said.
In many cases, members of the bereaved family have had to approach the courts seeking relief with regard to payment of the compensation that they genuinely deserved and which should have been released to them forthwith.
Litigation would mean that a good part of the amount that they are supposed to get is already spent on lawyers and court fees apart from the financial hardships that the families would anyway suffer due to the loss of their earning members.
"In any case, it seems the states will end up spending more money on insurance premium than compensation to the affected families," an EC official said.
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