12

Oct

‘Postal ballots used for block voting’

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New Delhi, 12, October 2023

Postal ballots used for block voting

Shivaji Sarkar


The Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar says that the postal ballot rules are being tightened to ensure the election process is free and fair. 
Kumar addressing newsmen hinted at misuse of postal ballots for possible block voting. He did not share numbers but said that in some of the previous state assembly elections, the Election Commission noticed it. 
It means that the ballots were being used to make unfair gains and tried to influence the election results. Now as per new rules the polling staff would submit their postal ballots before the beginning of the polling.
For instance, in Karnataka, May 2023 assembly polls, of 1.1 lakh senior citizens 9152 were issued postal ballots along with 119 physically challenged persons. 
It is also issued to those on essential duties including those on election duty. Every booth has on average four persons functioning as presiding officers and three as polling officers plus at least two security personnel, six per booth, perhaps some more at each polling station. 
Karnataka assembly elections held in May had 58546 polling booths, urban 20467 and rural 38079. 
Madhya Pradesh going to polls in November has 65000 booths, 11000 more than the 2018 poll. Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram have similar numbers. It means on average if 60,000 booths are considered as average per state, the total polling staff is about 3.6 lakh each per state. The statewide figures are more important. These huge numbers could give a twist to the polling in different constituencies.
But as Rajiv Kumar hinted at that the polling staff was voting after the elections as holding the elections at each polling station is the priority. By the close of the polls, the voting pattern is discernible. 
 This could have led to consultations and voting in a pattern that may not have been fair. He did not elaborate or name how it could have impacted the elections. 
The hint was obvious that the polling staff could have gained in different ways by impacting the polls in the interest of vested parties. Now they have been asked to cast votes before the start of the polling. While for other categories these are collected from their residences. 
Postal ballots are given to many categories of people, including senior citizens, people on duty, and polling staff, on the principle if voters cannot reach the polling station, the polling station will reach out to them and collect it from their residences under the supervision of an assistant returning officer. 
Of late, since the EC modified the rules, the number of postal ballots issued has increased in different elections as the number of booths has increased to ensure that voters do not have to traverse a larger distance to cast votes.
In the present elections, 26 per cent of polling stations in Rajasthan, MP, Telangana and 18 per cent in Chhattisgarh have been termed “critical” - areas with high political stakes in terms of vote share and margins of victory in the previous elections.

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