It is a shame that the jawan battling the elements in the desolate Siachen Glacier has so little voice in deciding what is good for his distant family and village or the country. Like tens of thousands of others in the military and paramilitary forces on duty in border posts or remote areas, he can only be a silent spectator, not a participant, when his village goes to the polls except on the rare occasion when he happens to be at home on leave on polling day. It is hardship enough to be so far away for long stretches during the most active years of his life. It is made worse by being unable to take part in shaping the environment he will return to and where he is likely to spend the rest of his productive years. The Election Commission and the Army Chief have expressed concern about the unintentional disenfranchisement of large numbers which has occurred because of the vagaries of the post office and the absence of an alternative method whereby security forces personnel can cast their votes. If the UnionGovernment is aware of the problem it has shown no sign of it yet.Voting by proxy has been proposed as a feasible and acceptable substitute for the postal ballot. Before the pros and cons of new forms of voting are considered, the Post Master General of India should be asked what can be done to improve postal services. As the millions who send money orders home to their villages in the first week of every month will testify, the postal service is extensive and usually reliable. What may be necessary, therefore, to speed up the delivery of postal ballots is some special organisational effort on the part of the post office, the Election Commission and military and paramilitary outposts. This is not to defend postal services in the face of the many inefficiencies and delays people have to put up with. It is to recommend that it is worth trying to make better use of an existing institution before looking for new mechanisms.Proxy voting would mean, in effect, that wives, fathers and brothers would beauthorised to vote on behalf of the absent jawan. The Election Commissioner, seeing an analogy here with the transfer of rights under a power-of-attorney document, finds no fault with the idea. It would certainly simplify matters. Once in possession of an appropriate document, a jawan's wife will be able to cast his vote in all elections and by-elections to the panchayat, Assembly and Lok Sabha. A word of caution is necessary. Proxy voting is based on many presumptions which need to be properly examined. The presumptions are that the individual is identical to the proxy delivering his vote in secret, that there is no possibility of divided political loyalties in the family, that the distant jawan will have no second thoughts, and that there is nothing arbitrary in transferring voting rights to relatives but not, say, to friends or lawyers. Finally, should the right to vote by proxy be given only to personnel posted in remote areas or all those on duty away from home? One way or another a remedy must be foundsoon for a situation which deprives jawans of their voting rights.
