Amendment rules related to postal ballots

Context

The government has changed the rule, where in the next Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections, elderly citizens aged 85 and above can choose postal ballots.

Key Highlights

• The government, in consultation with the Election Commission, amended the Conduct of Election Rules (1961) to elevate the minimum age for senior residents, eligible for voting by way of postal poll, to eighty five years from 80 years.
• As consistent with Rule 27A of the Conduct of Election Rules, postal ballot  facility was extended to:
  • senior citizens above 80 years,
  • persons with disability,
  • poll officers, and
  • Covid-positive persons starting with the 2020 Bihar assembly poll, which coincided with the pandemic period.
• However, an evaluation by the Election Commission confirmed that no greater than 2-3% of 80-plus citizens had opted to vote by postal ballots; the rest insisted on turning up at the polling station to forge their vote.
• The overall wide variety of senior citizens above 80 years is 1.Seventy five crore, with the ones elderly eighty-eighty five years being ninety eight lakh.
• Hence, the government is determined to amend the rule of thumb.

Postal Voting

• About

• • • Postal voting, additionally referred to as absentee voting, is a technique of vote casting wherein electors cast their ballots by mail in preference to an individual at a polling station.
    • This technique is in particular beneficial for those who are unable to vote in character due to several motives.
      • E.g., being away from their home constituency, having a disability, or being engaged in essential services on election day.

• Eligibility

• Service citizens:

• • • • Members of the defense force, paramilitary forces, and different authorities employees deployed on election duty far from their domestic constituencies.

• Absentee electorate:

• • • • Individuals who are unable to vote in person due to motives which include being away from their domestic constituency for work, contamination, or incapacity.

• Electors on election duty:

• • • • Government officers and polling staff who’re assigned responsibilities at polling stations aside from their very own.

• Electors under preventive detention:

• • • • Individuals who are detained under preventive custody orders all through the election duration.

• Eligibility in the course of Covid pandemic

• • • During the Covid-19 pandemic, the facility was prolonged to those inflamed or suspected to be inflamed with the coronavirus, beginning with the Bihar Assembly elections in 2020.
    • Before the Bihar elections, the EC had recommended extending the postal ballot  facility to the ones above 65 years of age and the Law Ministry had notified the change in June 2020.
    • However, the ECI in the end determined not to increase the ability to the ones above 65 years.
    • This was because the number of polling parties that might be required to cowl the accelerated age organization might have been impractical.
    • Finally, in August 2023, the Law Ministry again amended the rule to take the eligibility back to 80 years from 65 years.

• Significance

• • • Postal ballots play an essential role in ensuring that eligible voters workout their franchise, even if they’re unable to vote in person.
    • They make the accessibility of the electoral system and make contributions to a more inclusive and consultant democracy.

• Issues related to postal poll

• Vote buying

• • • • There is a risk that someone else is casting the vote on behalf of the voter because the voter chooses to promote his or her vote.

• Freedom of voting & secrecy is probably affected

• • • • As the voter can have voted on a printed ballot  from their respective home, a person could possibly observe the voter casting her/his vote.
      • This might cause coercion or forcing the voter to make a specific preference.

• Reliability and put off of postal services

• • • While the reliability and delay of postal services in a single’s country are widely recognized by the election commission, conditions might be worse in different international locations.
    • Consequently, the postal voting method should start early enough to take into account any unforeseeable situations.

Source: The Indian Express

UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q.Consider the following statements: (2017)

1. The Election Commission of India is a five-member body.
2. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs decides the election schedule for the conduct of both general elections and bye-elections.
3. Election Commission resolves the disputes relating to splits/mergers of recognised political parties.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a. 1 and 2 only          b. 2 only

c. 2 and 3 only          d. 3 only

Ans- “d”

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