Please V.O.T.E. : The genesis of non-participation of service voters and their families in elections, the reasons thereof and the solution !

I’ll try to be as uncomplicated as possible.

Why is it that service voters and their families are not able to effectively be a part of the most important process of democracy – the elections. The answer, in my humble opinion, is lack of awareness coupled with confusing signals from authorities.

Apart from postal ballot which is a cumbersome process marred by pitfalls galore, a service voter (technically defined as a ‘voter having service qualification’ under Sec 20(8) of the Representation of People Act, 1950) has two options :

(a) To vote at the native place, that is, the place of original residence without taking military service into account, or

(b) To get enrolled and vote at the place of posting

Quite simple this is.

The problem however is that election officials are not carrying out house to house enumeration of cantonments and military areas as directed by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Every cantonment forms a part of an electoral area and the officials of all such constituencies are duty bound to carry out house to house surveys in all cantonments but they are not doing so in most military areas effectively ensuring that individuals posted in such areas are virtually rendered stateless. In fact, in a communication dated 20 March 1995, the ECI had very categorically ordained that service personnel could register themselves as voters at the place of posting at the time of house to house survey. Cool, but then as I said, the problem is that house to house surveys are just not being carried out in cantonments as if these areas do not form a part of our country.

The Solution

Again very simple. You still have time to get yourself registered. If one wants to register himself or herself at the place of posting alongwith family members and there is no house to house survey, one can just fill up FORM 6 of the Registration of Elector Rules, 1960 and submit the same to the Electoral Registration Officer of the concerned constituency. The said Form 6 and the Rules can be perused and downloaded by clicking here.

Another problem is the lack of education and conflicting signals on the issue. As always, I think we are at the forefront of the old age adage ‘aa bael mujhe maar’. Though now in the military we have woken up and woken up well, sample this from SAO 16/S/1972 which is still in force and which is not only illegal and unconstitutional but also in direct contravention of a Parliamentary Act :

“16. Service Voters are authorized to vote only by postal ballot. They cannot vote in any other manner i.e. they cannot vote in person, even if they happen to be on leave or otherwise at the place of place of poll on the day of election.”

So there you have it. By the way, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Wopansao Vs NL Odyuo and others reported as AIR 1971 SC 3123 had laid down the following :

“ the Statutory fiction confers the right to be registered as electors at their home town or village but the fiction cannot take away the right of the person possessing service qualifications to get themselves registered at a constituency in which they are ordinarily residing, though such places happens to be their place of service.”

So vote and make our friend IndianAce happy too.