Armymen’s kin can now vote for them

On December 1, when the wives of Armymen line up outside the polling booths, they will have more than one vote to cast. The Army, in consult...

On December 1, when the wives of Armymen line up outside the polling booths, they will have more than one vote to cast. The Army, in consultation with the Election Commission, has decided that wives and blood relations can be proxy voters for its staff beginning the Assembly polls this winter.

Though the decision to allow proxy-voting for the million-strong force came on September 22, the Army hurried to make it possible this time. The Adjutant General’s office is sending voter’s registration forms (called 13-F) to all its formations.

The forms have the name of the proxy voter against the name of the Army personnel. The service voter can change the proxy by filling another form called 13-G.

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As many as 58 per cent of Army personnel have filled up their forms and sent them to the Election Commission for processing. The Army estimates that 60 per cent of its personnel will be registered as voters when the five states go to poll. This is in sharp contrast to the days of postal ballot—only 3.97 lakh Army personnel were registered as voters in 1997, when the proxy voting proposal was mooted.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Deputy Election Commissioner A.N. Jha said: ‘‘Proxy voting has already become law and service voters can exercise their vote in the coming elections this year.’’

He added: ‘‘The rules have been framed and the service voter can fill the form indicating a family member as his proxy. The proxy can then approach the returning officer and cast their votes.’’

Simultaneously, the Army has also decided to give electoral identity cards to its men and officers. Such cards will make the process far more simpler as the Army personnel will just have to give the card to his proxy for casting the vote.

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The Army has already launched the electoral identity card as a pilot project in Haryana.

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