Ludhiana, Oct. 9 -- The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has directed its offices to seek exemption for engineers and technical staff from election duties, citing staff shortages and rising power demand that require them to focus on maintaining electricity supply across Punjab.

In a communication to executive engineers and chief engineers, the corporation said its technical workforce supplies power to around 1.12 crore consumers and handles new connections, complaints, metering, billing and maintenance of the electricity network. It said diverting staff to other assignments could affect these essential services.

Apart from election work, PSPCL has also raised concerns over technical staff being assigned duties related to s...