District Electoral Officer, Leh, Avny Lavasa on Friday issued a directive to the Army to ensure all soldiers manning the China and Pakistan borders and other sensitive areas in Ladakh are provided access to postal ballot boxes and to “maintain the sanctity of the electoral process”. “In the past, there have been allegations of malpractices. There were also apprehensions expressed by a contesting candidate. In this view, the Army has been advised to follow the rules of postal ballot boxes,” Ms. Lavasa told The Hindu. Several hundred Army personnel are manning the borders in Ladakh. Sources said there were allegations made by a candidate that “various commanding officers of the Army in the electronic postal ballot system were telephonically asking soldiers for their voting preference rather than supplying to them the ballot paper for casting their votes”. An Army spokesman said no specific instances had been mentioned in the complaints by two independent candidates Sajad Hussain and Asghar Ali Karbalie.
Sources said Ms. Lavasa, also deputy commissioner of Leh, shot off a communique to the Ladakh-based General Officer Commanding of 14 Corps “to sensitise his officers about the sanctity of the election process.”
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the complaints are unfounded and appears to have been made to tarnish the image of Army. In depth investigation is on to ascertain the details in the most impartial manner,” said Army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia.
“Army remains apolitical and we hold this core value in letter & spirit,” he added.
“This is a gross violation of the secrecy of voting and a malpractice that has the potential to invite strict legal action. In this context, it is requested that all the concerned officers may be sensitised about the issue and the sanctity of election process maintained,” the communique reads.
Many soldiers are posted on difficult terrain like Siachen glacier, which is connected only by air.
