For the first time in the country, the armed forces personnel will be able to cast their vote by using electronic postal ballot facility in the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls.
Announcing this, Punjab Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh on Tuesday said that the electronic postal ballot facility will be introduced for the defence forces for the first time in the country in the Punjab Assembly polls.
He said that they hope that with the use of e-ballot means, the voting percentage by armed forces may jump up to 70-80 per cent as against the usual percentage of two-three per cent.
Singh said that the ballot paper would be sent through electronic means to the respective armed units.
Under this facility, defence voters could download the blank ballot paper and after marking their preference, ballot papers would be sent back to the respective Returning Officers (RO) through post, he said.
“Their votes will reach within five days,” Singh said, adding that there were about 1.1 lakh registered defence service voters in Punjab.
“With the use of e-ballot facility, the voting percentage can go up to 70-80 per cent,” he said.
The Centre had accepted the recommendation of the Election Commission regarding the e-ballot facility for service voters, including armed personnel posted at border areas, in order to save valuable time.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, during his visit to Chandigarh in October this year in connection with preparation of electoral machinery for upcoming polls, had said that service voters posted at border areas could use e-ballot facility for the first time in Punjab to promote inclusive participation in election process.
Zaidi had then said that most of service voters could not go to their polling stations as they were posted outside.