E-Paper
No postal ballots for those aged over 65 in Bihar polls
The Bihar assembly lapses in November this year and Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had told Hindustan Times in an interview on June 27 that as of now, the elections will be held when they are due.
The Election Commission on Thursday said it has decided not to notify the law ministry’s amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1951, that would have allowed those over the age of 65 to use postal ballots in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections and by-elections due in the near future, in a move welcomed by political parties.
The law ministry, on the recommendation of the Commission, had decided to allow people over 65 to vote remotely in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The provision was supposed to be an enabling one.
Five key opposition parties wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to reconsider the move which some of them said would unduly benefit the ruling Janata Dal (United), or JDU-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) alliance in Bihar.
The Bihar assembly lapses in November this year and Arora had told Hindustan Times in an interview on June 27 that as of now, the elections will be held when they are due. It will be the first assembly election since the pandemic began. According to EC officials, there are also nearly 50 by-elections that the Commission is gearing up to conduct.
The Commission has cited “the field situation and logistics of operationalization” as the rationale behind its decision to not allow postal ballots.
“Before every election, we have our field officers evaluate the practical situation on the ground,” a poll body official said on condition of anonymity. “Their assessment suggests that it may not be feasible to have postal ballots.”
The EC official added that the Commission had listened to and evaluated the representations made by the political parties, but that wasn’t the reason behind the decision.
“We heard all of them and their various objections to the postal ballot. The decision, though, has not been taken on the grounds that they made,” the official said.
The official added that the amendment to the RP Act would still hold. “If we want to use it, we can notify it ahead of the election. That is how it was done in Delhi and Jharkhand.”
The facility of optional postal ballots to electors who are above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities , voters engaged in essential services and voters who are Covid-19 positive or are suspected to be carrying the virus and quarantine (home/institutional) will be extended in these elections.
Among the dissenting political parties were Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India (CPI)and Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M).
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was among the first to raise concerns about postal ballots favouring the ruling party. This was followed by a representation by the Congress that said that the step would violate the secrecy of the vote. TMC, CPI and RJD also wrote to the Commission stating that no political parties had been consulted before the decision was taken.
The Commission, in a detailed reply to Yechury mentioned that Bihar’s chief electoral officer had held consultations with various political parties.
Yechury said that while they may not have notified the use of amendment for the polls, the change in the RP Act has already been made. “It is the constitutional mandate of the Commission to provide a level playing field,” said Yechury. “They have decreed the amendment, the EC can use it. All parties should have been consulted before the amendment was made. That has not been done.”
Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi was among the first to welcome the EC’s decision to drop the idea of postal ballots, as did the opposition parties.
“Postal ballots could have been misused by parties like the RJD and Congress,” Modi told Hindustan Times. “RJD in any case has a culture of looting votes. Moreover, there would have been logistical issues. The EC would have to amass enough manpower to collect postal ballots from nearly 30,000 people in every constituency.”
According to Modi, nearly 10% of Bihar’s population is above 65. There are over 70 million voters in Bihar.
“There were concerns raised about the secrecy of postal ballot and also the safety of voters. The decision was hasty and without due application of mind. We welcome today’s decision of the EC and hope appropriate measures will be taken to safeguard the health of voters,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.
According to Derek O’Brien, Trinamool’s Parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, the decision was an undemocratic one.
“Trinamool had written to the Commission giving compelling reasons why they were ill-advised to be pushed into taking a decision that was completely illegal, undemocratic and was arrived at without consulting any political parties. So that is that,” O’Brien said. West Bengal is scheduled to go to the polls in the first half of 2021.
RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha also stressed that by not notifying the amendment, a free and fair election would be ensured in the state.
“We are glad that the EC has decided to not notify the amendment. Any change whatsoever in the peoples representation act should only be done by engaging through wider consultations. The commission should always remember that the idea of free and fair election as well as ensuring level playing field is not simply rhetoric,” RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha said.
