Rs 30 lakh ex-gratia for kin of polling staff in case of COVID-19 death

The government will provide an ex-gratia of Rs 30 lakh to the family members of the polling official and security personnel engaged in Odisha by- election if they die of COVID-19, an official release said. The Election Commission has made this announcement, the release issued by the state government said.

The government will provide an ex-gratia of Rs 30 lakh to the family members of the polling official and security personnel engaged in Odisha by- election if they die of COVID-19, an official release said. The Election Commission has made this announcement, the release issued by the state government said. The same amount of ex-gratia will also be provided to the family of the staffers and jawans if they die due to violence or explosion during the by-polls, it said.

Apart from polling officials and central forces, the engineers of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) assisting the by-polls will also get coverage under the same scheme. The by-elections to the Balasore Sadar and Tirtol Assembly constituencies will be held on November 3. The by- election was necessitated following the demise of sitting BJP MLA Madan Mohan Dutta (Balasore) and BJD legislator Bishnu Das (Tirtol).