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  • Category: Elections

    Names of those who voted should be published

    Election in our country stands as the core of our functioning democracy and is akin to a national festival. Only when we comprehend the number of voters and candidates and the diversity of geography, language, occupation, income etc. we can understand the enormity of it. It is miraculously awesome. Nowhere else can we see such a mammoth event.

    It is to the credit of the people and the governments over times that we have come solving many issues and reached present stage. Over the years elections in our country have become more transparent, easy and convenient. The malpractices that were happening have also gradually reduced and except for some sporadic happenings here and there elections are generally smooth and peaceful.

    However there are still some discrepancies and we cannot say there is full equality between voters, parties and candidates. The voters are a bit less privileged in a few counts. One is that a candidate can fight elections even if he/she is in jail (there may be some conditions here), but a voter cannot vote if he is in jail.

    But what I want to say here is another matter. The list of voters is published and that is available in public domain. The candidate's agents and poll officials tick against the names in the voter list when the voter comes to vote. But interestingly this 'Voted list' is not published and remains in the official documents and with the candidates, agents and parties.

    While the total number of persons who voted is available gender-wise, booth-wise and the total percentage of polling from the election commission official sites and by the media information, the actual names of people who came and voted is not published.

    I am of the opinion that the 'Voted names list' also should be made available to the public. This can reduce a lot of possible malpractices that are still remaining. There should be more such reforms to make the elections more equitably democratic. What are your views members?
  • #778887
    Yes, it's a very nice suggestion which can be easily implemented. At the end of the election ECI can notify the list of voters who have exercised their franchise just as the list of the enrolled voters prior to the election. As we are moving towards so much transformation in our election process in this largest democratic country, such revamping decisions are necessary to curtail the malpractices. Hope such good initiatives would take place in near future.
    Regards,
    Jagdish

  • #778888
    Every election year, it is mentioned that so many voters voted in the election process and their percentage is disclosed. But the list of people who voted remains with the authorities. That list is a crucial document in the sense that from that only we can get the exact statistics about the voter distribution and pattern.
    Those who have not voted, whatever be the reasons, have not participated in the democratic process and from another perspective they were not interested in selecting a candidate for nation's growth. They were indifferent to the election process. For them it does not matter as who comes in power.
    So publishing the list of people who actually voted makes the list an important document giving us most important information.

    Knowledge is power.

  • #778889
    In my opinion, when a person in Jail can contest, why can't a person in jail can't vote? I don't understand the logic of this. A man with criminal charges can rule but can't vote. Is it not ridiculous? The suggestion given by the author is very pertinent. If the list of voters who exercise their voting power is available to the public, they can see whether their name is there. If any individual's name who has not voted is present in the list, he can raise a complaint. That will help to reduce malpractices.
    I think the list will be available with the district collector and if the same is published all can view the same. Still, there are many loopholes in the system and the same is to be rectified so a fair election can be conducted. I heard in some states the polling staff use the EVM and Vote on the names of the persons who have not voted and are making a particular party win. How to stop such malp[practices is a big question.

    drrao
    always confident

  • #778894
    Yes, I agree with the author that the voted name list should also be published. I think it is a very good suggestion and it is not so difficult task to do so.
    Honesty is the best policy.

  • #778909
    Hi all. I am newbie. Glad to be here. Have a nice day everyone!)

  • #778920
    Donald, welcome to this site. This is the forum section where members raise new posts and respond to old posts of their interest. We have a variety of topics for discussion and you can pick up as per your interest. This site also has many other sections of great interest for creative as well as educational content contributions. You can go through the help topics and pinned posts above if you are interested to contribute here. This is a great place to improve your writing skills as well as to learn so many new things. Have a nice time. All the best.
    Knowledge is power.

  • #778939
    To be frank, I don't quite understand how publishing the names of persons who voted will help in curbing the malpractices connected with elections. Yes, if one who has not voted takes the pain to cross-check and see whether his vote has been cast by someone else and he decides to take up the case with the authorities, the vote cast in his name may be declared as invalid. But is that so easy? Once a vote has been cast and has not been challenged, I doubt whether any action will be taken if an objection is raised at a later stage. We have witnessed so many other malpractices during elections even after so many technological improvements being made. Not that I am pessimistic, but it is for the political parties and parties in power to ensure that elections are free and fair. But will it be possible when power becomes the final and only target? I doubt.
    'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
    -Aristotle

  • #778947
    One thing I would like to mention here an incident that happened in Tamil Nadu where elections were held recently on April 19th one of my neighbors went to the polling booth with his family including his aged parents and wife to cast a vote. It was found that except for my neighbor's name, his parents and wife's names were not on the list and thus they just returned without casting their votes even though they produced their Aadhar cards at that time. I am sure there have been several cases like this. Should it be the EC's duty to release the updated voter list before conducting this kind of General Elections/Lok Sabha elections? How have the names been missed while they cast their votes during the last state elections? It is more important that the EC release the updated voter list on the website than publish the voted public's names.

  • #778976
    This, I think, is a good topic that can be discussed from different angles and perspectives and hope to see our members coming up with valuable inputs. Spread the net, whether or not you catch a fish.
    'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
    -Aristotle

  • #778991
    Whom to vote is my choice and whether to vote or not is also my choice. In a democratic setup, no one can force or intimidate anyone to vote. So, what others will do with the list of names who voted in the particular election? In a state where poll-related violence can be termed as the highest this seems a dangerous proposition to me. You have the voters' list in the public domain and if the list of people who voted in the election is made available to the public it will become another tool to the hands of the criminals to perpetrate violence on those who have not voted. It will be very easy to find out the names of persons who have not voted by comparing the voters' list and this list and supporters of a specific party can go to the villages and hound out the people who have not voted.

    Members may say that there are security forces and ECI to look into such matters of violence but those things will happen later on only after a lot of bloodshed. I would like to know from the members on what account they think this will help curb certain misconducts.

    Sankalan

    "Life is easier when you enjoy what you do"

  • #778992
    By doing so, it might be an exhaustive list which calls for a sincere exercise of the authority to check thoroughly the cases of left out cases. Let us ensure that there is one hundred per cent attendance in a particular constituency. There might be some variation in the figures due to health - issues of the voters having prevented them from appearing in the booths.
    Such a figure will reveal statistics of several parameters including the absenteeism with the real cause. Though considering the population angle of our country, releasing the attendance of the voters casting their votes would be a time - consuming exercise but absenteeism can indicate the reason for such an absence. This can be conducted after the campaign is over by the authorities.

  • #778996
    If the name of a person who did not cast the vote is present in the list of names of voted persons. we will understand that there was a malpractice. Some wrong person might have voted on the name of this person. Rigging was happening in many places and this list may be useful to find out whether such rigging happened at any place. To get correct feedback the list should be taken to all the houses and cross-checked to find out any such malpractices were carried out.
    After casting a vote, a voter should see actually to which symbol he has voted. In EVMs that chance is not there. So a printout should come and the voter should verify and complain if there is any error. If there is no error he can drop that printout in the booth provided for that. Many may not agree saying that the process will become tedious. In such cases, there should be some way out to check whether the vote has gone to the correct party are not by the voter, I feel.

    drrao
    always confident

  • #778998
    Despite election ID and Aadhar card, if people are able to cast vote in the name of others, who is to be blamed? Can we still rely on the authenticity of these unique identity numbers? If rigging is still prevalent, it means that the technological advancements has not been able to overcome human intelligence. Sad, but true!
    'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
    -Aristotle

  • #778999
    During the 2019 elections in Andhra Pradesh, there were problems with EVMs and voting went up to midnight. More voting took place between 11 PM and midnight. I heard that government employees ( Poling staff) went on voting on the names of persons who had not attended the voting. At that time all employees favouring Jagan did this. Average voting at 5 PM was 40% and average voting at midnight was 85%. This made all the difference.
    drrao
    always confident

  • #779000
    Saji Ganesh in post #778939 has doubted "I don't quite understand how publishing the names of persons who voted will help in curbing the malpractices connected with elections."
    This is because we who are normal law abiding people do not think anything different than normal law obeying and norms complying behavior. Hence we cannot imagine about many malpractices happening. It is only when we read such reports and first hand narrations by poll officials and poll agents and law enforcing authorities that we try to comprehend all these.
    For example, we think that after voting our duty is over .We have prevented someone voting in our name.

    For arguments sake I am putting out the following situational argument. For example, some of our family members have not come for voting though their name is voters list. They are temporarily out of station and cannot come for voting. In certain places either by political understanding and silent behind the scenes agreements or by political domination a certain polling agent will have dominant command and other polling agents will remain silent or support this person. So when that party/agent knows that so and so will not come for voting, they will bring someone to vote in that name. If any polling official points out, all polling agents will say they know the person and they have no problem. ( One of my previous colleagues who was on election duty confirmed this to me as he was discreetly warned about serious consequences if he did not keep silent).

    So in case the list of people who voted , booth-wise, was published at least the family knows that malpractice has happened and those who can and want can lodge formal complaints or take legal action.

  • #779001
    Sankalan Bhattacharya in his response # 778991 has said "In a democratic setup, no one can force or intimidate anyone to vote. ". I beg to differ here.
    Govt spends a huge amount of money and time for conducting elections. The voting day is delared holiday in whatever sectors possible and governmnnt exhorts other sector employers to do same or at least give sufficient time permission from work to enable employees to exercise their democratic right of voting. Government has facilitated postal voting for those who are on election duty and 'home voting' for those aged above 80 years and also for disabled people.The holiday and permission and the special facilities are not given for enjoying without voting,, but to take pains and vote.
    Hence public avaialability of list of people who voted can help review the facilities given and the paid holidays given to those who did not vote.
    In this regard I also suggest that Voting should be treated not just as a right, but as a prime duty also.

  • #779004
    Venkiteswaran sir, I think I did mention your point in my response. But my question was with regard to the outcome of such an action by a person who has not actually voted. With regard to rigging, please also refer my response at #778998. Let us also remember that we are living in a period where a vulnerable candidate or a victorious candidate is either intimidated or is brought by any means and that is where the changing mentality of the voters comes into picture. If I don't vote and someone else votes in my name and the officials concerned turn a blind eye, it is not only my failure as a citizen but it is the failure of democracy as a whole.
    'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
    -Aristotle

  • #779009
    Venkiteswaran sir @#779001, you may have a different opinion and the government can spend millions of rupees to conduct elections, still, voting is a right and not a duty. You may suggest voting to be treated like a duty but in reality, it is not and voting is not mandatory in our country. The government tried to bring in a bill to make voting mandatory and there were debates but later on, the government accepted that it cannot be made mandatory.

    From your response, it seems that the authorities will carry out some kind of review to provide some facilities based on who voted and not but that cannot and should not be done by anyone. A section of people, though not large, in our country are below the poverty line, there is no parity in income, and the country is still developing yet, the MPs and MLAs decide their salaries. The rules are different for ministers and if they at all are taken into custody/jails, they are provided special treatment. If you still force people to vote for such politicians then I would request you to please think of the situation as a whole and not just a part where everything looks superficial.

    Sankalan

    "Life is easier when you enjoy what you do"

  • #779038
    To take the discussion along a meaningful direction, today I searched for the countries where the 'voted voters list' was available either in public or on request. I found the following:

    Norway: In Norway the information whether someone has voted is a public information. but this is not available as open public document, but available on request for verification of the register.
    Sweden and Finland: Have some system similar to Norway.
    New Zealand : In New Zealand the list of those who voted in an election is available at Election Registrar's office for public inspection till the next election.
    USA: In USA though the said data is not available in public at national level, there is provision for it in certain localities or States. There is some system of access to it with protection of privacy, to prevent misuse.

    In many countries such information can be accessed on court orders.

    Once again I wish to say that the privacy concern arguments are not logical, as in our country, the same information is already available with so many people like political parties, polling agents, poll observers, Election Commission website etc. So why not make it legally available to all instead of a few privileged keeping it to themselves and exploiting it for their own purposes?

  • #779040
    I don't think the voted persons list is confidential even in India. I am not sure, but I think one can get the required details by applying for the same via RTI.
    'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
    -Aristotle

  • #779059
    Voting is a major right to all Indian citizen who have attained 18 years. The new voters are included by periodical updating of voter list. It is deducted that Right NOT TO VOTE (or rather not to choose ) is also granted and reinforced by adding NOTA to candidates list.
    Earlier non-residents were not eligible to vote, but now they are eligible if their name is in the voters list. This was due to the persistent demand by NRIs. In the current elections I read in newspapers that a lot of NRIs from Kerala have come for voting in their respective constituencies. Special 'Vote Flights' were reportedly facilitated and NRI voters have come in thousands. The news report in Sunday Guardian is "Over 22,000 NRIs reached Kerala ahead of polling day on 26 April to exercise their franchise. Around 12 chartered flights were booked to fly them in."
    This is a situation which has impact in various ways. When NRIS show interest in voting , even spending huge amounts, resident people absenting from voting has to be analyzed and remedial action to be take to make elections more participative and more effective of people's wishes and choice.

    An easily available data of people who actually voted will be useful to improve system and also to assess if there is any kind of hidden pressure or deterrence o voting for the absentees.

    I feel it is time that w make voting equally as a right and duty.

  • #779060
    I feel the necessity of voting is to be felt by the individual. Just Publishing a list of people who voted may not invoke any interest in those who did not vote. But that list is useful because no malpractices were there in the voting process.
    NOTA is there. But it is as good as not voting only. NOTA votes are to be counted and if they are more than 10 or 15%, I feel, the election should be cancelled and again fresh election should be conducted. That will make the system better.
    There should be a change in the eligibility criteria to contest in elections and candidates who are found guilty should not be allowed to contest. Some reforms like the mentioned should be carried out in the rules for electing our representatives. Then I feel many people will come forward to cast their vote.

    drrao
    always confident

  • #779066
    Recently, the apex court has forwarded a notice to the Election Commission of India to clarify and create rules on NOTA where the election in a specific constituency can be declared 'null and void' if NOTA gets a majority. There are no specific rules regarding NOTA. In this regard, I would like to request members to ponder over the remedial actions they are suggesting for those who didn't vote. Please do specify why criminals facing charges are there in parliaments and assemblies and why no actions are taken against them. Even if actions are taken they are unnecessarily delayed because of their political clouts. Even after 76 years of independence there is only talk about corruption-free politics but day by day it is increasing. What remedial actions were taken to stop this malaise? If remedial actions were not taken in those cases what 'remedial actions' should be taken against those who have not voted?

    Venkiteswaran sir @ #779038, has nicely stated about the voted persons list in some foreign countries and may I request him please state the rate of corruption in those countries too? Please analyze such things before stating that everyone has to vote. Let millions of NRIs reach their respective states during the polling day, it's their choice and if some people do not vote then also it is their choice only.

    Sankalan

    "Life is easier when you enjoy what you do"

  • #779092
    In today's(6th May 2024) Malyala Manoram newpaper, Print edition, Kochi , in a Letter to Editor, one person has sought for need for making list of people who voted , available to public.

    Though it is in Malayalam, I had attached the photo copy of the relevant portion. At least those who can read Malayalam can verify.

    I am happy that people have started thinking on the matter and started expressing it openly too. Hope this idea will spread and reach a positive and productive conclusion, like many other electoral reforms over the years.

    Delete Attachment


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