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Fernandes urges PM to allow proxy voting for defence personnel

Defence Minister George Fernandes strongly favours proxy voting by armed forces personnel.

He has called for introduction of the proxy voting system for defence services personnel by suitable amendments in the electoral law.

In a letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, copies of which have also been sent to Chief Election Commissioner Dr M S Gill and Law Minister M Thambi Durai, Fernandes had said that introduction of proxy voting would fulfil a long-standing aspiration of the armed forces personnel and plug a serious lacuna in the electoral process.

The defence minister pointed out that the issue of effective participation by the armed forces personnel in the electoral process had remained unresolved so far.

During the run-up to the general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is a major partner in the coalition government at the Centre, had strongly recommended to the Election Commission to introduce proxy voting for armed forces personnel without any delay.

In the communication to the prime minister, Fernandes pointed out that under the existing law, armed forces personnel formed a separate category of electors known as ''service electors.''

While they can get themselves enrolled in their native places and postal ballot papers are issued to them by the returning officers, the constraints of despatch of postal ballot papers to them through their record offices and receiving the ballot papers back before the counting starts are well known, the defence minister noted.

Elaborating on the practical difficulties, Fernandes said the postal ballot papers could be despatched only after the list of final contestants had been prepared after the last date for withdrawal of candidates.

''The period available for despatch and receipt of postal ballot papers has now been further curtailed because the minimum campaign period has been reduced to 14 days,'' the defence minister observed.

The facility to vote by post for the armed forces personnel, therefore, exists in practice only on paper, Fernandes said.

The defence minister also said in the communication to the prime minister that the armed forces personnel constituted one of the most disciplined and devoted sections of the electorate.

He also noted that during his tours of various field formations as defence minister, he had spoken to a large number of armed forces personnel about their problems and had been touched by their devotion to duty and sense of patriotism.

''While they (armed forces personnel) do not easily give vent to their demands or grievances, I could still fathom their sense of frustration over the virtual denial of opportunity to contribute to formation of democratically elected governments,'' he said.

He also brought to the notice of the prime minister that the three service chiefs had also told him that the only effective method was to allow defence personnel to vote through the proxy system which would permit them to authorise any adult member of their family to vote for them in their native places.

He said he had also been informed that proxy voting was prevalent in advanced countries like the United Kingdom and France and also in less developed countries like Algeria.

Fernandes pointed out that in addition to 1.1 million defence personnel, their family members living with them in family stations were also facing the same problem.

Denial of opportunity to such a large number of eligible personnel to exercise their franchise is a negation of the democratic principle, the defence minister asserted.

He said the situation needs to be remedied and now that the government was seriously engaged in the exercise of electoral reforms, this was the opportune moment to do so.

UNI

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