Chandigarh, January 12
Tens of thousands of serving armed forces and para-military personnel as well as members of their families residing in Punjab will be unable exercise their right to franchise despite their eligibility to vote being guaranteed by constitutional provisions and Supreme Court rulings. The same may also hold true for other states which soon go to poll.
The crux of the issue lies in the definition and applicability of “Service Qualification”, contained in the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) handbook for Electoral Registration Officers (ERO), which has been changed over the years to render servicemen ineligible.
Armed forces personnel and their family members have the right to get themselves registered as voters at the place of their posting. Section 19 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1950 lists only two conditions-above 18 years of age and being ordinarily a resident of an Indian constituency-to be enumerated as a voter.
Chapter 10 of the ECI’s handbook for EROs bars government employees with Service Qualification (SQ) from being registered as voters. In addition to a large number of military stations, Punjab has a huge presence of para-military personnel who, besides being on permanent government duty, are subject to local laws and taxes.
In a letter written to the Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi on the topic a few days ago, Punjab Minister for Legal Affairs and Defence Services Welfare Capt Balbir Singh Bath has termed the ECI’s handbook as “defective”. He said that such discrimination against soldiers was not justified and taxation without representation was a “tyranny”.
Several ex-servicemen’s associations have also taken up the matter with the ECI as well as state electoral authorities, adding that provisions of the ECI’s handbook are in violation of article 14 of the Constitution.
SQ was extended to armed forces personnel under Amendment Act 2 of 1956 and was applicable only to those posted abroad so that they could cast their vote through postal ballot. However, SQ was “wrongly” applied to those posted in India, amounting to denial of the right to vote, according to ex-servicemen who are pursuing the issue.
The problem was further compounded after Amendment Act 47 of 1966, which deleted the words “persons when posted aboard” from Section 20 of the RP Act. The deletion of the words was recommended by the ECI after the Home Ministry proposed extending SQ to the state armed police when deployed outside their home state, even though SQ was then applicable only to armed forces personnel posted abroad.
The deletion led to SQ becoming legally applicable to military personnel residing in India and it implied that they could vote only through postal ballot during elections in their native place.
The Supreme Court, in its ruling in 1971 upheld the registration of Assam Rifles personnel at their place of posting in Nagaland and ruled that SQ cannot take away the right of service personnel to be registered as their place of posting in India. Further, in 1984, the apex court ruled that the ECI cannot override provisions of the Act and rules and its powers are meant to supplement rather than supplant the law.
In March 1995, 24 years after the ruling, the ECI issued a letter stating that armed forces personnel can vote at their place of posting if they do not want to avail the facility of postal ballot. Based on this letter, Army Order 15/950 was issued, stating that service personnel can vote at their place of posting.
Armed forces personnel and their family members have the right to get themselves registered as voters at the place of their posting. Section 19 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1950 lists only two conditions-above 18 years of age and being ordinarily a resident of an Indian constituency-to be enumerated as a voter. Chapter 10 of the ECI’s handbook for EROs bars government employees with Service Qualification (SQ) from being registered as voters. In addition to a large number of military stations, Punjab has a huge presence of para-military personnel who, besides being on permanent government duty, are subject to local laws and taxes.
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