Around 850 policemen from Goa of the Indian Reserve Battalion of the Goa Police that have been posted to Uttar Pradesh to manage law and order of the elections there are likely to lose out on the opportunity to vote after they were posted pretty much with very little notice denying them time to apply for postal ballots.
Postal ballots which are made available to those on duty including election officers, government servants, policemen and those serving in the armed forces are taken very seriously by the election authorities to ensure that no citizen misses out on an opportunity to vote. They are even made available to those posted abroad in Indian missions and embassies across the world. Every postal ballot that reaches the counting centres before the start of counting -- in Goa’s case on the day prior to the day of counting on March 10 -- will be counted.
As has been pointed out by the Congress and several other opposition parties, owing to the suddenness of the posting and the nature of their duties, if they are to vote this time, the Election Commission, especially the office of the Chief Electoral Officer Goa will have to go out of its way to ensure that postal ballots are delivered to them and that they are allowed to exercise their franchise in a free and fair manner.
As the Congress has pointed out in their complaint, the Election Commission has spent a lot of money to encourage people to come out to vote including on advertisements, SVEEP (Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation) programmes, decorating the booths all in an effort to ensure that the electoral process is conducive for voting and people turn out to vote.
That being the case, it should be a no brainer that the ECI should take similar measures to ensure that no one is denied the opportunity to vote much less for reasons that the government is responsible for and is in no way the fault of the policemen who are faithfully only doing their duty. If nothing is done to ensure the policemen are given a chance to vote, it will be nothing short of dereliction of duty.
Complaints have also been registered with the Election Commission concerning the alleged coercion of government officials by certain ministers and politicians with the allegations suggesting that the government officials are being made to vote for certain politicians.
While there is little the Commission can do if the said officials are themselves willing partners in such an exercise, the fact that the officials are being threatened warrants at least an inquiry to understand the nature of allegations and the seriousness. It is well known that it is not beyond the current crop of politicians and ministers to threaten and browbeat officials using a carrot and stick policy to get them to vote in their favour thereby completely violating the principle of a secret ballot.
A core responsibility of the Election Commission is to ensure that voting is available in a free and fair manner to each and every voter. No voter should be left behind is one of the campaign slogans of the Commission. It is thus important that the ECI upholds the very principles it vows to stand by and ensure that the IRBN constables do not miss out on a chance to vote as well as that the secrecy of the postal ballots is maintained.
