Political parties of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday hailed the Supreme Court order granting armed force personnel right to exercise their franchise at the place of posting in peace stations. The State has over a dozen cantonment areas and this would help the parties carve a space for themselves amongst the Defence personnel.
The right to exercise their franchise at the place of posting for armed force personnel was a long pending demand of several ex-servicemen associations working in the State. The Supreme Court in its order on Monday had said that Election Commission of India will have to register the armed force personnel as voters of the constituencies concerned, if they have been posted at such station since January 1, 2014 and have not chosen to vote through postal ballot or proxy voting.
The order will also be applicable to the families of such personnel and will do away with the rigours of travelling to the native place, where they have been registered as voters or use of the less popular mode of postal ballot and proxy voting. BJP leader and Kargil hero Brig Kushal Thakur, who also heads the All India Ex-Servicemen Movement (Himachal chapter) said that his association welcomes the Supreme Court ruling on the armed force personnel and it was long pending demand.
“The postal ballot or proxy voting system was very tardy process and most of the serving soldiers were unable to exercise their franchise in a true manner. This ruling has now given right to exercise their franchise to the soldiers who are posted in peaceful stations,” said Thakur, who is also among the ticket probable from BJP for Mandi parliamentary seat. He added that with the ruling, an armed force personal posted in the State can exercise their franchise in favour of candidates of the constituency where he is deployed or posted. “Although he will not be able to vote for the leader of his native constituency but certainly he can vote for the leader of the constituency, he is posted,” said Thakur. Himachal Pradesh has over dozen cantonment areas including at Dharamshala, Bakloh in Chamba, Dalhousie, Yol Cantt, Palampur, Kinnaur, Daghsai, Kasauli, Subathu and Jatog, where more than one lakh population of armed force personnel are posted and have their families along with them. The sizeable population will certainly not be ignored by political parties who will now try to woo the soldiers and their family members.
Chief Electoral Officer, Narendra Chouhan said that there is already provision within the law that armed force personnel can vote through proxy voting or postal ballot but as per the SC order, now the personnel will have to get registered as normal voter and prove that he is not enrolled for proxy voting or postal ballot to avoid any duplicity of votes.