ECI wants voters on poll duty to cast ballot at designated centres, not by post

Many voters on election duty are unable to cast their votes in person at their home polling stations as they are deployed to a different constituency to manage and supervise polling at the allotted stations

In order to minimise the potential misuse of the postal ballot facility to ensure “free, fair and transparent” polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has proposed that people on poll duty be allowed to cast their votes only at designated voter facilitation centres and not keep their ballot papers for an extended period.

The Election Commission of India building in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar and election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey sent the recommendation to the Union ministry of law and justice last week, which will eventually require an amendment to Rule 18 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

Nearly 1 million polling stations are set up across the country during national elections, with almost 1 crore voters on election duty. The amendment, if passed, will impact voters including police personnel, polling officials, presiding officers and other staff on duty.

According to the standard ECI policy, voters on election duty are deployed to places other than their home constituency to manage and supervise polling at the allotted stations. Due to this arrangement, many are not able to cast their votes in person at their home polling stations. Such candidates are allowed to vote via post.

“It has been observed in the previous elections that the voters on election duty who are provided postal ballot do not cast their vote at voter facilitation centres, and take their postal ballot with them claiming that they have time to cast postal ballot till 8 am of the counting day, according to Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, read with Rule 18 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961,” a person familiar with the matter said.

The rules state that the concerned returning officer, at the time of training, may issue postal ballots and also set up facilitation centres to enable voters on election duty to cast their ballots before they are dispatched to their allotted polling stations.

“The facilitation centre is equipped with all necessary arrangements to ensure secret and transparent voting in the presence of candidates or their representatives,” the person said.

However, voters on election duty also have the option to send their ballot through “post to the returning officer so as to reach the officer before the hour fixed for the commencement of counting, i.e., 8 am of the counting day”.

Data says that during the state elections held in the past two years, such as Goa, Kerala and Manipur, “over 50% of postal ballots were received by post from the election duty staff”, people familiar with the matter added.

“In Uttarakhand, not even a single postal ballot was cast at the facilitation centre,” the person said. “It has also been observed that many of such voters keep postal ballots at their homes for long time after performing poll duty, as General Elections are normally held in staggered manner in order to manage logistics and requirement of forces.”

The person added that the proposal will “minimise the potential misuse of keeping ballot paper by the voters on election duty for a long time with them, which is highly susceptible to undue influence, threats, bribery and other unethical means by candidates or political parties”.