Voting Rights of Defence Personnel in India

The Supreme Court of India on March 24 2014, directed the Election Commission to allow the Armed Forces voters to vote like general electors in the places of their posting(only in peace areas and not on border areas).

• It should be noted that the term ‘Armed Forces’ also includes central police & para-military forces functioning within the ambit of the relevant Service Act.
• ECI can decide on the modus operandi of voter registration and the method of voting of all voters including the service voters, under the powers vested in it under Article 324 and the Representation of People`s Act (RPA).
• The order will also be applicable to the families of such personnel and will do away the rigour of either travelling to the native place where they have been registered as voters, or use the less popular mode of postal ballot and proxy voting.
• The court said the Election Commission (EC) will register them as voters of the constituencies concerned if they have been posted at such stations since January 1, 2014, and have not chosen to vote through postal ballot or proxy voting

Implications

In some of the constituencies where the deployment of the service personnel is high or substantial with respect to the indigenous electorate it would alter the demographic composition or intrinsic character of the electorate there.A huge discontent may arise among the local people. This is particularly true in case of the tribal areas of the north eastern states and left wing extremism affected areas and also to some extent in Jammu and Kashmir.

Further the provision has negative political consequences. The impact may be felt more in case of state assembly elections because local opinion may get negated on issues thrown up in the polls when there are divergence in perceptions between the local people and service personnel.

Opinion

The existing electoral system provides opportunities and protects the interests of even the small and marginal communities to fulfil their will and aspirations. Indian service personnel have a rich tradition of being apolitical while being allowed to exercise their democratic right of voting in the electoral process. Service personnel have also been discharging a crucial supportive role to the Election Commission for conducting peaceful and fair elections. So it would be better not to bring any institutional changes which will bring discontent among the civil electorate.