NAINITAL: With the general elections in the state a little over two weeks away, the district collectorate has a new problem to deal with — a mounting heap of leave applications from officials reluctant to go on poll duty.The excuses are many. While some have cited ‘genuine’ reasons like pregnancy or serious ailment, others have resorted to rather ‘bizzare’ excuses like — can’t sit for long hours, altitude sickness, wife will be angry, parents will not allow, among others.Reacting to the same, Vineet Kumar, nodal officer, department of personnel for Nainital district said, "We are receiving applications with bizarre excuses from various government department employees to excuse them from election duty. We are examining the applications and decisions will be taken on the basis of investigations into the claims."Another official from Almora district , on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to getting such excuses saying, “Many are also trying to exert pressure through various channels including political and bureaucratic connections to skip poll duty.”Notably, all five Lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand will go to polling on April 11. A total of 235 polling stations have been set up across the state for 77.17 lakh voters of the state."We are committed to conducting a free and fair elections and all departments have been instructed to follow the guidelines," said VK Suman, district magistrate and district electoral officer of Nainital district.

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