By Sushmita Goswami
Guwahati, Apr 10 (UNI) If you thought the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) tagline of ‘No voter to be left behind’ was a mere slogan, think again.
The ECI is not only going all-out to ensure free and fair elections and increased voter turnout, it is also ensuring that no genuine voter is denied his or her right, even in the eventuality of someone having already cast a vote against a particular elector’s name.
The provision of ‘tendered ballot’ allows a genuine voter to cast his/her vote even if the voters’ list show that someone has also cast a vote against that elector.
Explaining the provision of tendered ballot, an ECI source said here, “If a voter finds that someone else has already cast his/her vote earlier, then he/she cannot be denied and will be allowed to vote through tendered vote.”
The provision for tendered votes reads, “If a person presents himself/herself at the polling station and seeks to vote representing himself/herself to be a particular elector after another person has already voted as such elector, the Presiding Officer shall satisfy himself/herself about the identity of the elector concerned. If the Presiding Officer is satisfied about the identity of the elector on his/her satisfactorily answering such questions to his identity as the Presiding Officer may ask, he/she shall allow the elector concerned to vote by means of a tendered ballot paper, but not through the voting machine.”
This provision is contained in the Handbook for Returning Officer, published by the ECI, and also uploaded on its website.
The tendered ballot is not cast on the EVM, but separately on paper and its record is maintained by the Presiding Officer.
Though the total number of tendered ballots polled is published in the public domain, the identity of the voters who cast these votes is not revealed publicly.
In Assam, 208 tendered ballots were cast in 2016 Assembly polls, with the highest number of 112 tendered ballots recorded in Dispur LAC.
In 2014 General Elections, 20 tendered ballots were cast in the state.
Just as the voter can cast his vote even after his name has already been marked as voted, the identity of the voter can also be challenged.
Under provisions mentioned in the Handbook for Returning Officer, the polling agents can challenge the identity of a person claiming to be a particular elector by depositing an amount of Rs 2 in cash with the Presiding Officer, who has hold a summary inquiry into the challenge.
If the challenge is lost, the person concerned can cast his vote.
However, if the challenge is established, the person shall not only be debarred from voting, but also handed over to the police with a written complaint.
“All such complaints to the Police should be vigourously pursued and prosecutions launched against the offenders so that they are convicted and suitably punished,” as per the official provisions.
The records of challenged votes are also maintained by the Presiding Officer, but not published along with voter turnout figures, which include figures for tendered votes.
