What is postal ballot and proxy voting

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The government of India has provisions for allowing its citizens to cast vote during an election in three different ways: In person, by post, and through a proxy.

While in-person voting obviously involves the voter to be physically present at the polling booth, the other two allows certain voters to exercise their Right to Adult Franchise from a distance.

Proxy voting allows a registered elector to delegate his voting rights to a representative he nominates. This was introduced in 2003 for very few countries to have such a provision. Notably, only “classified service voter” serving in the armed forces or paramilitary forces is allowed to avail of these benefits; the proxy, too, must be a registered voter of the same constituency.

Postal ballots, on the other hand, involves votes being sent by post. The rights are reserved for people deputed in election duties at places away from his or her constituency, or for armed force personnel, the armed police force of a state serving in another state, ambassadors and high commissioners and their staff. The spouses of the above-mentioned electorate can also enjoy these benefits.

Nowadays, one can download blank post ballot sent to them electronically, mark their preference and send back the filled-up ballot paper to the election official.

Need for proxy voting is being heavily discussed once again as the country goes to polls from April 11. Many (non-resident Indians) NRIs have been urging the government to grant them the right to cast proxy votes in the constituencies where they are registered.

Though the government tried to bring the same to force, a Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha to facilitate this got stuck in the Upper House of Parliament. Not just that, several Opposition parties objected to the passage of the Bill citing trust deficiency reasons. There is no mechanism to guarantee that the proxy voter will actually vote for the person the actual voter wants to see in power.