VIJAYAWADA: Imagine being a responsible citizen of India and going to the assigned polling booth to exercise your franchise only to be told by a polling agent that his valuable vote was cast by someone else. Though the situation is rare, it is not uncommon during general elections.
To protect the integrity and transparency of the polling process, the Election Commission has taken several measures to let the electorate cast their votes peacefully.
If a person has found that his/her vote has already been cast by someone else, then the person or the polling agents must bring the issue to the attention of the presiding officer. The person will get the chance to vote through a tendered ballot by filling Form 17-B, if he possesses voter ID and voter slip, under Indian Election Act, 1961. As per Section 49P of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, “The identity of a person claiming to be a particular elector may be challenged by a polling agent, by depositing `2.
The presiding officer must determine the challenge through a summary inquiry. If the challenge is not sustained, he/she must follow the challenged person to cast his vote. If the challenge is sustained, you must not only refuse the challenged person from voting, but also hand him over to the police along with a complaint in writing.”
Also called a challenged vote, the tendered ballot is cast when the presiding officer approves that the person’s vote is challenged after a thorough inquiry. During this procedure, the voter will not be allowed to cast his vote on the EVM, instead he will be allowed to cast his vote on a ballot paper with “Tendered Ballot Paper” written on the back and concealed in an envelope.
Normally, tender votes are not included in the main vote count. When two candidates get the same number of votes, the winner is decided through a toss. However, the losing candidate can approach the court and file a petition to include the tendered votes, if he is confident that the margin of victory is less than the number of tendered votes.
There are several social media posts claiming that if any polling booth records more than 14 per cent tendered votes, re-polling will be conducted in such polling booths. However, there are no such provisions according to the laws in the constitution. It must be clarified that the tendered votes will be taken into consideration only on the direction of a High Court.
