The Kerala High Court has directed the Election Commission of India (EC) to clarify its stand on a plea by the Kerala NGO Union seeking to make available postal ballots to personnel who were on duty for the Assembly polls in Kerala on April 9 and to extend the deadline for casting postal votes.

The union had submitted earlier this month that many such officials did not receive their postal ballots, despite timely submission of applications. It further submitted that it had handed over a list of 21,156 officials who were unable to cast postal ballots.