The Centre has notified the amended election rules to facilitate the e-postal ballot system for services personnel and their family persons. The Ministry of law and Justice legislative Department last Friday notified the amended rule 23 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 which will now enable service voters, including armed forces personnel, to cast their vote in elections through e-postal ballot. Under this system a blank postal ballot paper would be transmitted to them electronically.
“This would cut short the delay experienced in the present system in two-way transmission of ballot paper by the postal services. The armed forces personnel serving in remote and border areas would be greatly benefitted since the present system of two-way transmission of ballot paper by the postal services has not been able to meet the expectations of the service voters,” said an official of Ministry of law and Justice legislative Department.
The notification comes in the background of difficulties encountered by the service voters, especially by the armed forces personnel serving the border and remote areas of the country. With the issue of the aforesaid notification, a long-pending and near-unanimous demand of the service voters, including the armed forces personnel, has been fulfilled.
The issue was also agitated before Supreme Court in the matter of Neela Gokhale vs. Union of India & Anr. (Writ Petition No. 1005 of 2013) pleading for creating effective mechanism for the Armed Forces Personnel (AFP) and their families to exercise their right to vote easily and effectively.
In the above backdrop, the Government approached the Election Commission with a view to mitigating the difficulties faced by service voters in the matter of exercising their franchise. The technical team of the Election Commission has developed a system whereby blank postal ballot could be electronically transmitted to the voter, namely, e-postal ballot system. Voters entitled to postal ballot such as service voters, can download the postal ballot and print the blank postal ballot.
After marking the vote in the blank postal ballot, the same would be returned to the concerned Returning Officer by post as in the present system of postal ballot. The Election Commission proposed that the categories of voters mentioned at rule 18 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 may be made eligible for e-postal ballot system.
Major beneficiaries would be the entire category of service voters as stated above, especially the armed forces personnel posted in border and remote areas of the country.