Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Voting By Armed Forces Personnel

The Election Commission has said that it won’t allow armed forces personnel to vote at their place of voting as it would upset the local voting pattern of a constituency. The risk, an EC official said, was more in Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which are thinly populated but have heavy military presence. Besides, in many constituencies in Kashmir, where the voter turnout could be very low, the participation of the local military unit may alter poll results.

Since Independence a false sense is prevalent, that the armed forces should remain apolitical and insulated against the electrol process. The Government, Election Commission and the armed forces themselves have not encouraged the men in uniform to vote fearing that their voting could alter the local voting and they would become a sizable ‘Vote bank’. Voting by armed forces could also dilute the apolitical nature and the forces could become demanding.

Neglect of the armed forces personnel by the very people who are supposed to look after them have made them change their mind and move towards vote bank politics as it is seen that those who vote are heard much more than those who don’t. The Supreme Court ruling of 1971 that armed forces personnel can register themselves as general voters like any other citizen has not found favour  with the Election Commission. It is not that men in uniform are not allowed to vote, but many have never voted either. Nor is there a system in place which ensures that every person gets registered and votes. Even the Service HQs have not shown interest to make their men vote. Moreover prior to, and during elections the armed forces are on standby to thwart any evil designs of the enemy/election duty. So, therefore, what is the solution?

Right to Vote

The Constitution guarantees voting rights to every citizen of the country who is eligible to vote and the armed forces are a part of the citizens of this country. Hence voting by members of the armed forces cannot be denied. ‘Right to Vote’ exists and should be honored.

Registration for Voting

Next, there should be a system in place so that persons can vote. The method of sending ballot papers by post is outdated and reaches much beyond the date and time of casting vote. There is no database to know as to how many are registered voters and how many need to register to be eligible to cast their vote. So foremost,  there is a requirement to create such a database of all the eligible personnel. This can best be done by involving the ‘Regimental Centres’ which  would be having a computerized database of their regimental jawans and their place of posting/location. Army HQ must get fully involved and push the Regimental Centres to register all personnel. The facility of the Election Commission to register ‘ON LINE’ should be exploited and encouraged by the armed forces by themselves.

For Future

At the time of enrolment itself the armed forces personnel should be made to register for voting. This task should be undertaken by the Regimental Centres.

Casting of Vote

Having ensured registration by all, thereafter a system needs to be evolved by which all can vote much earlier to the date of voting by the general public or during the intervening period between the date of voting and counting of votes which the EC should be able to decide in consultation with Army HQ. The present methodology of ballot papers and ballot boxes / proxy voting is not recommended as it is outdated and full of delays.

India takes pride in calling itself the IT Capital of the world but finds it difficult to put a system in place which can effectively ensure ‘On line’ voting by its people. If railways / airlines reservation system / banking system, /filing of income tax returns can function effectively, there is no reason as to why an on line voting system cannot be installed. A mind set change of the EC and the Army HQs is required. Technology is available, technical expertise exists. All that is required is to Rig it up before the elections.

How can it be done?

  • ·        Existing EC system for registering on line can be used with suitable modification or
  • ·        The Aadhar UID system can be integrated with the EC system.

How will access /voting be done?

It is presumed that all armed forces personnel have registered themselves and have a valid voter id.

  • ·        Access/login should be based on the personal number id given to every defence person at the time of enrolment and stays with him throughout.
  • ·        After logging in, the system should display his photo, particulars like name, address, unit, constituency etc.
  • ·        System should authenticate him by asking him his voter id card no/aadhar card no.
  • ·        System there after directs him to his state constituency with the names and symbols of the persons standing for election.
  • ·        Defence person exercises his right to vote by clicking on the name of the aspirant.
  • ·        System locks his voter id to prevent duplication of casting vote again.

What other option available?

EC should send EVMs under its authorized reps to the Regimental Centres who in turn should dispatch these EVMs under Special Courier to the units as per location.
After the votes have been cast, the EVMs are returned to the Regimental Centres and then on to EC for counting of votes.

Should voting be at place of posting or home constituency?

The major question facing the EC is that of whether voting should be at the place of posting or to the person in the constituency. The option of voting at place of posting has been turned down by the EC. Apart from the voting pattern shift, as an example, the soldier from Kerela sitting in Leh/Tawang would be least interested in the local constituency as he would be more worried about things/happenings back in his home constituency. It would be in fairness, that defence persons posted in field/semi field areas should be allowed to vote for the home constituency rather than to at the place of posting.

What about those who are posted in peace stations?

That is debatable. No unit / person remains in a peace station for more than two to three years. Persons in peace locations get aligned with the local population and face the same problems/facilities as any other citizen and would like their vote to be counted and their problems attended to. So it would be appropriate that defence persons in peace areas are allowed to vote for the constituency at the place of posting or alternately the option can be given to the individual whether he would like to vote for locally or his home candidate.

Voting for the party / PM Candidate

Another option which is workable and  far better , would be to vote for the political party eg Congress/BJP or the party’s Prime Minister candidate.  It is then the responsibility of the Party/PM to ensure that instructions are issued down the line to resolve the problems related to / faced by the armed forces personnel.

It is never too late to remind the people of this country about  Chankaya’s advice to his King; to attend to the problems of his soldiers so that they can do their duty fully committed to the nation. The EC and the Armed Forces HQs must make a concerted effort to ensure that the defence personnel get themselves registered and are able to cast their vote like any other army in the world and be counted.      



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