Observing that the right to vote cannot be denied to defence personnel, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission to allow those serving in peace areas to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections.
A Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and Kurian Joseph questioned the rigid stand of the Commission that service personnel can only cast postal ballots, and said the Commission could not impede their right to vote.
Appearing for the Commission, senior counsel Meenakshi Arora drew the court’s attention to the fact that the election process had already begun in 225 constituencies and over 13.60 lakh personnel had already registered to cast their postal ballots.
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She justified the rule saying that “there are areas in J ammu and Kashmir and in the North-East where defence personnel outnumber the local population. Allowing them to cast votes in the constituency of their posting would change the entire demography of the constituency.”
Justice Lodha said the EC should not take a hard and technical stand so that the statutory right of citizens is taken away. “What surprises us is that when the EC desires 100 p.c. polling, why should the Commission do anything which deprives a person his right to vote. ” Later, Ms. Arora conceded to the plea and said “those service personnel who have not made their declaration till now to cast their vote through postal ballot may register themselves as ‘General Voters’ in respect of constituencies where poll process not yet commenced.”