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Organisation calls for voting on the Web

An organisation with no political affiliations has suggested that nearly five million people in the country who cannot exercise their franchise in the coming elections since they are posted outside their home towns be allowed to vote over the Internet.

The Association of Indian Voluntary Organisations has already written to Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill and sent copies of the letter to the external affairs minister, the defence minister, the three services chiefs and the directors general of the Border Security force and the Central Reserve Police FOrce. C J M mathew, AIVO secretary-general, today said postal voting, which had been introduced for such people, had proved a "waste of time, resources and money."

The postal balloting system could only begin after the ballot papers are printed and ballot papers could be printed only after the last date of withdrawal of nominations. The gap between this date and that of counting had proved insufficient to allow the postal votes to be taken into account in the final tallies.

The number of such government service personnel, including the defence and paramilitary forces, foreign services and those transferred out of normal station for election duty, is about five million.

"In today's world very large sums of money are transferred across the oceans by electronic means.... It would be profitable to investigate whether the advances in information technology can be harnessed to serve this essential need," Mathew said.

"It is ironic that defence personnel who defend the country, are themselves unable to profit from their fundamental right," he said.

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