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Little chance of proxy voting for defence personnel

The Election Commission's proposal to immediately introduce proxy voting for members of the defence and paramilitary forces failed to win consensus at its meeting with nationally recognised political parties today, making bleak the chances of an estimated five million security forces personnel exercising their franchise by proxy in the coming general elections.

While representatives of political parties spoke for the proposal, only the Bharatiya Janata Party was in favour of introducing the scheme through a presidential ordinance for the coming elections. The parties wanted it to be left to Parliament for a wider debate since it involved an amendment to the Representation of People Act.

Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill had written to Prime Minister I K Gujral last week urging the Centre to promulgate an ordinance permitting personnel from the defence and diplomatic services to cast their votes by proxy during the general instead of through the usual postal ballots, which, Gill said, was not a success.

Six of the seven nationally recognised parties -- Congress, the BJP, the Samta Party, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Janata Dal -- were represented at the meeting called by the Election Commission. The newly-recognised national party -- the Bahujan Samaj Party - apparently went unrepresented.

The other issues discussed at the three-hour meeting included increasing the ceiling on election expenditure, criminalisation of politics, the status of opinion and exit polls and the state-owned electronic media.

While the scheme for use of state-owned electronic media and criminalisation of politics found virtually unanimous approval, there was a divergence of opinion on the issue of election expenditure and opinion and exit polls.

The same agenda will be put before the commission's meeting with regional parties tomorrow. Gill presided over the meeting. Election commissioners G V G Krishnamurty and J M Lyngdoh and senior EC officers also participated in the meeting. The commission is understood to have asked the political parties to submit their suggestion in detail within two or three days.

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