Soldiers can cast vote at place of posting

Serving soldiers will now be able to cast their votes at the place of their posting.

"Now military personnel can be enrolled as general voters at the place of their posting across the country if they fulfil the eligibility criteria for voting," Defence Ministry sources told PTI in New Delhi.

The Election Commission has already issued a directive in this regard.

With over 1.5 million armed forces personnel, they are expected to form an attractive vote bank for political parties, especially in the major cantonments across the country.

"In cantonments such as Bhatinda, Jodhpur, Jalandhar, Meerut and Mhow, where we have sizeable numbers, our personnel would be a big attraction for poll contestants," the sources said.

Majority of the 1.5 million personnel in the Army, Navy and the Air Force are over 18 years of age and hence are eligible to vote.

For being able to cast their votes, the soldiers will have to show their official identity cards as proof.

"They can go to polling booths in their area of posting and show their ID cards to the polling officials to cast votes," they said.

Armed forces have been encouraging their personnel to register themselves for voting.

"The Army Chief had written a letter to all the formations asking them to register their men for voting by November 30 last year," the sources said.

Once the soldiers register in their place of posting, they will have to forgo their voting rights in home constituencies.

"Their vote in their home constituency will be deleted," they said.

The latest system promises to be less complicated in comparison to the postal ballot and proxy-voting procedures.

"The existing procedures are a bit complicated as a lot of documentation is required to cast one's vote and that is why they could not gain popularity among soldiers," they said.

The EC has allowed political parties to canvass for their candidates among the services personnel and procedures have been laid down for the manner in which political parties can reach out to our personnel.

"Armed forces' personnel votes will be more significant during the assembly elections where the number of total votes in constituencies varies between 20,000 to one lakh," the sources added.