“Vote for Nobody”: A Myth

This chain mail has been doing the rounds for some time now, but is based on a complete misunderstanding of the statutory provisions.

Neither the Constitution of India nor the Representation of the People Act, 1950 contain any provision to suggest that failure or refusal to vote can have any bearing on the outcome of an election at which other people have duly voted for the candidate of their choice. The provision in question, “49-O”, is actually a mere Rule which has been enacted in order to deal with a peculiarity of the electronic voting system which India pioneered.

“The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961” have been framed under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and make detailed provisions for everything from filing of nomination papers to casting of votes, counting of votes, and the like. Separate provisions are made for direct elections such as to Parliament and State Assemblies, and for indirect voting such as in electoral colleges. Part IV of the Rules covers “Voting in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies”, while Part V covers “Counting of Votes in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies”. Part IV has two Chapters, with Chapter I (Rules 28 to 48) applying to “Voting by Ballot”, and Chapter II (Rules 49-A to 49-X), which was added in 1992 to deal with the new phenomenon of electronic voting, applying to “Voting by Electronic Voting Machines”.

Rule 49-O, which is part of Chapter II, has been introduced in order to account for all electors who have attended and signed into the polling station. In the case of voting by ballot, the actual number of ballot papers issued are required to be tallied with the votes cast in order to avoid any malpractice, and this account includes ballot papers which have been properly marked, ballot papers which have been accidentally torn/defaced, ballot papers which are seized from electors who refuse or fail to put them into the ballot boxes, and so on. Since ballot papers are physically verifiable and can be counted (whether from the ballot boxes or from sealed envelopes containing defaced/torn/misused ballot papers), there was no need prior to 1992 to have any special Rule to obtain the signature of an elector who attended the polling process but refused or failed to cast her/his vote.

However, when voting is done by electronic voting machines, there is no physical manifestation of the vote. Hence, all accounting has to be done by verification of the registers which are signed by the electors before going behind the screen and punching a button on the voting machine. There being no such thing as a blank or defaced or torn ballot, it became necessary to provide that if an elector, after coming to the polling station and signing in, refuses or declines to cast her/his vote, then a remark has to be made in the register and the signature/thumb impression of the elector has to be obtained against such remark. This remark/entry is then relied upon while counting votes under Rule 66-A, which is a special Rule for counting of votes cast in electronic voting machines, since the machine only records the votes actually cast, and has no means of knowing how many people signed in but failed/refused to cast their votes.

Rule 66-A read with Form 17-C make it clear that the purpose of Rule 49-O is only to ensure that electors who fail to vote after signing into the polling station have done so of their own accord and not due to any force or coercion. Form 17-A is the form in which the polling booth register is to be maintained, which is signed by all electors when they enter the polling booth and are identified against the list of valid voters at that booth. Form 17-C records the final count of votes as per Rule 66-A, and this has to be signed by the election agents of all the candidates as it reflects the final result of the tally. Column 6 of Form 17-C requires that the number of electors who actually cast their votes as per the voting machine, be added to the number of those who declined/refused to vote, i.e. those in respect of whom a remark is entered against their names in the voting register (Form 17-A) under Rule 49-O, and that the total of these two figures should tally with the total who signed the voter’s register. In case of any discrepancy in this total, the polling agents have to explain the discrepancy in Form 17-C. This is nothing but an accounting procedure devised in order to ensure that there is neither any bogus voting, nor any force used to prevent valid electors from casting their votes.

Importantly, there is nothing whatsoever in the Act or Rules to suggest that if electors either individually or collectively decline to cast their votes and get this fact recorded under Rule 49-O, then this would have any effect whatsoever on the election. Elections are won (or lost) on the basis of votes cast in favour of different candidates, and not on abstentions. The Greek definition of “idiot” remains as valid as ever, and Rule 49-O has done nothing to elevate a person who refuses to vote out of that category.

Although Rule 49 O provides that an elector may refuse to vote after he has been identified and necessary entries made in the Register of Electors and the marked copy of the electoral roll, the secrecy of voting is not protected inasmuch as the polling officials and the polling agents in the polling station get to know about the decision of such a voter.

The Election Commission has therefore recommended that the law should be amended to provide that in the ballot paper and the particulars on the ballot unit, in the column relating to names of candidates, after the entry relating to the last candidate, there should be a column, “None of the above”, to enable a voter to reject all the candidates, if he chooses so.

Such a proposal was earlier made by the Election Commission in December, 2001 and reiterated in July, 2004 (vide letter dated 10.12.2001). Text of the recommendations is available on the election commission official website.

Interestingly, nothing is provided in the Election Commission’s recommendations, regarding re-election or invalidation of the current candidates. If such a consequence is really provided it will be great, until then, don’t be an “idiot””!

COME ON GET READY TO VOTE……VOTE TO MAKE THIS COUNTRY A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE…….

VOTE TO GET RID OF CRIME & CRIMINALS…….VOTE TO ERADICATE ILLITERACY, UNEMPLOYMENT, POVERTY………..VOTE TO ELECT THE LEADER NOT TRADER WHO BARGAINS THE PRIDE OF OUR MOTHERLAND………

GET UP AND RAISE YOUR VOICE BY VOTING

The government cons the military....... again

(The below published blog is actually an article written by a former fighter pilot Mr. M P Anil Kumar on a well-known website.)

First it was the unflattering and detrimental report of the sixth pay commission. Then followed the malicious maneuvering to downgrade the military further, on the sly, through the committee of secretaries tasked to reconcile the contentious proposals advanced by the same pay commission. Now it is the turn of an unfeeling government to drive the military and its veterans into despondency.

In a written reply, Defence Minister A K Antony informed the Rajya Sabha on December 11 that the government has not found acceptable the demand for 'one rank one pension' (OROP) by the ex-servicemen.

Our politicians may have no qualms about showering promises and reneging on them at will, but the military veterans today feel cheated, no less. The whole military structure rests on the bedrock of ranks. Unfortunately, the stuffed shirts inhabiting the corridors of power are uninterested in understanding military ethos. Make no mistake, OROP is an emotive issue for the men in uniform, and there is deep hurt and resentment at being taken for another ride.

Worse, the denial of OROP comes at a time when the three services are acutely enfeebled by shortage of young officers, at a time when the services are labouring to curb the exodus of middle-level officers, at a time when eligible lads are giving a career in the forces a miss. Could there be a worse illustration of governmental apathy?

A brief history of 'one rank one pension'
The concept of 'one rank one pension' is fairly straightforward. Fairness demands that a soldier's pension be determined by just two factors: his rank and the length of his service. That is, two military pensioners who retired in the same rank after rendering equal service should get equal pension irrespective of their dates of retirement. Nobody has so far cogently rebutted this rationale to be unreasonable.

The government, and the blinkered bureaucracy that steers it, however do not think straight, and they excel in entangling simple strands into an intricate skein of complexities. As a result, over the years, the pension system evolved without extending fresh gains to the past pensioners and propagating new classifications on the way. So much so that at one time there were 14 categories of pensioners!

Mission OROP commenced in the early eighties to stem this proliferation and to rationalize military pension. The Supreme Court gave its nod to the concept of OROP on December 17, 1982. Consequently, a committee headed by K P Singh Deo was tasked two years later to settle the issues raised by the ex-servicemen. It made 62 recommendations and stamped its imprimatur on OROP. While most of these were accepted, OROP lingered on like an ugly birthmark.

In a placatory gesture, the government granted a 'one time increase' in 1992. Later the fifth pay commission merged all the pre-1996 pensioners into one category, and created a new breed of post-1996 pensioners.

The politicians pledged bipartisan backing to OROP both inside and outside Parliament. OROP has featured in the election manifesto of all major political formations. On April 10, 1999, George Fernandez, then defence minister, proclaimed at Anandpur Sahib that OROP would become a reality in 'a few days.'

Sonia Gandhi endorsed OROP in a Congress party rally at Chandigarh on November 23, 2002. OROP was part of the President's address to the Parliament in 2004, thus elevating it as a sworn government policy.

The parliamentary standing committee on defence chaired by Madan Lal Khurana spiritedly favoured OROP in its twentieth report and he urged the inter-ministerial committee to examine the issue and operationalise it expeditiously.

The mystery of OROP negation -- it beats me
Being a stated government objective, the sixth pay commission, a creature of the government, should have brought it in force but it simply winked at OROP, thus paving the way for the-powers-that-be to discard OROP now. Why the government jettisoned OROP -- a cool catch-phrase hitherto -- from its charter of pledges is incomprehensible.

In the Rajya Sabha, the defence minister did not assign compelling reasons for dumping OROP but if it was the fear that other central services too might clamour for a similar demand, then it is indefensible, for:

One, the concept of rank is unique to the military. Those in non-military services may carry designations/posts like 'director general' but these have no formal sanctity the world over. However, those in/from the military are always referred to by his rank, even after death.

Two, while those serving in the military retire by rank, the other government employees retire by age. To keep the forces young, a vast majority of servicemen are retired in their mid-30s, but their civilian counterparts serve up to the age of 60 years. Since the date of retirement also determines the quantum of pension, with each pay commission (with periodicity of 10 years), the military veterans who retired early receive lesser pension compared to those who retired later with the same rank and same service. As military pensioners are subjected to two or three more pay commissions in their lifetime, they have to suffer the disparities bred by it every 10 years. (Hence the relevance of OROP)

Three, civilian pensioners have not sought the equivalent of OROP to date. Further, when the 'one time increase' was granted to the armed forces, civilian pensioners never made it a bone of contention.

Four, the pension structure of the defence personnel is distinct and no other central service has sought a similar structure or parity with the ex-servicemen.

Five, the parliamentary standing committee in its 2004 report had estimated the annual cost of implementing OROP to be Rs 614 crores. Even after catering for inflation, the resultant amount is small change to governments that unabashedly hand out princely sums to patronise cronies, to cultivate vote banks and to feather their nest.

Hence the governmental reluctance to sanction OROP is truly boggling.

Cold-shoulder, procrastinate, and turn down -- the time-tested trick
As for the sixth pay commission, sidestepping OROP was not a one-off. Pay scales have direct bearing on pension, and it used this handle to deliver another blow below the belt of the veterans. It is no secret that on matters military, the babus are the ones who poison the minds of our political leadership. And herein one can spot the fingerprints of the hands of bureaucracy that snatched away a legitimate and well-received demand. The babus have always delighted in slighting the services but I hope it dawns on our people the kind of insidious damage they are wreaking on the very bastion of our freedom.

The government response to circumvent awkward predicaments is always predictable: announce an anomalies committee or empower a group of ministers. Cold storage in other words! In fact, these anomalies committees have become a joke; the unmissable irony is that the very babus who masterminded the anomalies are then mustered to untwist the skein!

A decade back, the fifth pay commission begat 48 'anomalies' and an anomalies committee was set up to iron out the kinks. Only eight out of 48 found favour. Logically, the rest 40 should have been in the remit of the sixth pay commission for resolution, but were swept under the carpet. That is how our bureaucracy plays the stepmother, spoiler and the game of attrition.

A gibe going the rounds truly hints at the pernicious role of the bureaucracy: 'Why Chandrayaan is a resounding success? Because, there were no babus involved in the project!'

The Indian bureaucracy is evidently inspired by a skill of the weasel, an animal that sucks out the contents of eggs and leaves behind intact shells. An egg that a weasel has sucked out would look unscathed to untrained eyes. Similarly, our babus are wizards at sucking dry any grand idea and leaving just its void shell. This empty eggshell is then showcased to hoodwink us suckers (the public) -- oblivious to the smashing idea snuffed out already by the babu long ago -- into believing that it might hatch any time!

'Theirs not to reason why/theirs but to do and die.' This is an oft-quoted line from the moving epitaph Alfred Lord Tennyson penned of the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854. The Union government has apparently taken the Tennyson verse for granted, expects the military to abide by the code of omerta and to swallow the bureaucratic meanness without murmuring why.

Instead of walking in lockstep with the guarantors of national security, the babus seem hell-bent on demoralizing the forces that have time and again kept the flag flying despite severe stress. One hopes the country will grasp the perils of having a demoralized military. Even the most formidable army needs to be cared for and nurtured by the mother country.

What now? Limited options, time to rally round
For the spate of raw deals, the veterans and their kith and kin can join forces to vote against the UPA parties in the upcoming general election. Our politicians understand only the language of votes, and this step might make them sit up and take notice.

Move the Supreme Court, but after the court order, one can expect a welter of sundry committees, protracted debates, trite counterpoints, circumnavigating files and other time-honored methods of temporisation to be used by the babus to obstruct OROP, leaving the survivors distraught and desolate, and benumbed with deja vu.

The best shot is to implore those parliamentarians sincerely well-disposed towards the armed forces to call the government to honour its promise.

The larger issues
Everyone and his pet know that the only sensible solution is in having a separate pay commission for the armed forces. Several countries have Armed Forces Pay Boards and these bodies are adequately represented by serving and retired officers. Why can't we?

Since our polity perfunctorily panegyrises the men-at-arms in public, and spitefully stabs them in private, and a stringent code of conduct gags the soldiers, it is time to deliberate an idea floated by several veterans: Why not set up a Blue Ribbon Commission to delve into all aspects of our armed forces and their place in the Republic?
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INDIAGSG view on this.......

1. You have floods call the ARMY.

2. You have earthquake call the ARMY.

3. You have riots call the ARMY.

4. You have plaque call the ARMY.

5. You have terrorists striking call the ARMY.

6. You have any calamity call the ARMY.

7. You want to defend your territorial integrity call the ARMY.

8. When all other services collapses call the ARMY.
.....................But when it comes to give their dignity, respect and OROP the government will not listen or budge because they are not a solid VOTE BANK. And these bas***d politicians and beaurocrats will never oppose their own salary hikes and perks. The great Indian ARMY has to pay the price for being a disciplined force.I just wish that some day we will have an ARMY GENERAL WITH BALLS, Who can stand and fight for his people and take these Politicians and beaurocrats HEAD ON irrespective of the outcome. But they would rather play in their hands to get a plum posting as Chairman of some organization or Governor or an Ambassador.

LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

(This letter is actually an article written by a well known journalist in a leading newspaper, few days after the 26/11/2008 incident)

Dear Mr. Prime minister,
I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mice. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that. Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bollywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India. Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima. We the people are left with only one mantra: Womb to Bomb to Tomb. You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug. Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn't it? I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar. Look at all the politician, Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Balasaheb Thackeray, Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackeray, and Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money. Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief Minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those houses, enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will. Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn't it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything. If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN. You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule. Take example of former president Abdul Kalam: such an intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn't even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person. Dear Mr. Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politicians. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holders. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day. Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of. Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 crore people.

Unsung Heroes Of 26/11/2008

The first thing you notice as you enter D B Marg police station in south Mumbai is the photograph of Tukaram G Ombale, who died battling terrorists early on the morning of November 27.
A few days ago, as you read this there was a simple ceremony at the not-so-iconic D B Marg police station, when garlands were placed around the photograph of Assistant Police Inspector Tukaram Gopal Ombale. Were there any reporters present to honour Ombale's tale of heartbreaking courage? On the night of 26-27 November, Ombale and several other policemen were on alert in the Girgaum Chowpatty area. They had been told that two terrorists were on the run in a Skoda. The twenty policemen out there had a grand total of two self-loading rifles and two bullet-proof vests. The vests were given to the men with the rifles, who were placed at vantage points around metal barricades. The rest of the policemen carried only lathis (batons); some were plainclothesmen, others in uniform.Those (virtually unarmed) policemen tried to stop the Skoda. The driver fired at them. The police shot back from the pre-determined vantage point and got him. The other man slid out, pretending to surrender, but carrying an AK-47.
Ombale rushed to secure him when the terrorist started pumping away with the AK-47. Call it guts or instinct but Tukaram Gopal Ombale refused to let go of his assailant. It is said that something like 30 bullets were recovered from his body. His colleagues took advantage of Ombale's last act as they rushed at the terrorist with their lathis. The plain clothes men were later identified as a 'mob' in grainy footage shot by someone on a mobile phone! Tukaram Gopal Ombale died for his bravery. Assistant Police Inspector Sanjay Govilkar received bullet injuries. But those ordinary policemen -- some in their forties, laughably ill-equipped -- succeeded in doing what nobody else could; they captured a terrorist on a suicide mission alive. They also recovered artillery dwarfing their modest weapons -- AK-47s, several magazines, 9mm pistols, and grenades. Today security agencies from across the planet are sending men to Mumbai, from the FBI, the CIA, Britain's MI-6, Israel's Mossad and Shin Bet, and even from Russia. Between them, they have mixed opinions of the Indian security forces' tactics -- especially the Israelis -- but to a man they salute those constables from D B Road police station. There is nothing they prize more than information, and that is what they are extracting from the captured terrorist -- how he was recruited, how, and where, and by whom he was trained, and so forth.
Every major nation, even the Chinese, have problems with Muslim fundamentalists, yet none could capture a suicide attacker trained from the Al Qaeda manual. That honour goes only to the Mumbai police. These were ordinary constables, not trained men from the Anti-Terrorist Squad, the Black Cats, or the Marine Commandos. I would love to say that their naked courage has been honoured by a renewed determination to fight terrorism but it would be untrue. With one accord everyone is rushing to place all the blame at Pakistan's doors. I do believe the ten terrorists who carried out the actual attacks were indeed all from Pakistan, but it stretches credulity to breaking point to believe that there was no local support. Investigators say there is no way that just ten men carried all that equipment, including timers and explosives, into the Taj Mahal hotel, so who smuggled it all in? Can men setting foot in the city for the first time really negotiate Mumbai's network of streets without guides to find Nariman House? What of the politicians? What was the situation in Mumbai in the week after a weary NSG leader confirmed that the last terrorist had been killed in the Taj Mahal hotel? No chief minister, No home minister, No replacement for the chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad. A director general of police fighting for his office. Maharashtra Director General of Police A N Roy was appointed amid controversy several months ago; the appointment was quashed by the Central Administrative Tribunal on October 8, 2008, and he is now battling it out in the high court.
Sharad Pawar named Chhagan Bhujbal as a replacement for former Maharashtra home minister R R Patil, but he could not take office until the Congress got its act together because you cannot have ministers without a chief minister. The Congress loves to accuse others of playing 'politics as usual.' What do you think kept the party from selecting a new chief minister if not 'politics as usual' -- with more to come from Narayan Rane? So Sonia Gandhi packed off the external affairs minister and the defence minister to Mumbai -- not to inspect the security situation, but to find a new chief minister. These are precisely the two ministers who must be in Delhi during an international crisis. Couldn't his mother have sent Rahul Gandhi in their place? Few expect better of our politicians. But what of the media? It spent so much time around its beloved 'icon' that it almost forgot about VT -- or CST, call it what you will. There are roughly 13 million citizens of Mumbai. Do you think even a million of them have set foot in the 'icon?' But how many of those millions are not familiar with the railway station?VT became a footnote to those reporters around the 'icon.' So, I fear, will be the names of Tukaram Gopal Ombale, and the other ordinary policemen with him, the likes of Hemant Bodwankar, Mangesh Yende, and Bhaskar Kadam. Can this ungrateful nation offer the living policemen and the families of the dead nothing but faded garlands around a photograph in a police station that today's journalists rarely bother to visit?

Come....Lets Fight For Our Right

IndiaCSG (INDIA CIVILIAN SERVICES GROUP) is a group involved in social activities. The activities which can help bring the positive change our country need. It is said that some incident has the capacity to change the entire perspective of a person.... IndiaCSG is the brainchild of those people whose outlook towards the life and our country has changed after the 26/11/2008 incident. Lets come together to make this world a better place to live in......Lets join hands and fight for our right.....Come lets show this world that come what may, we have the strength to fight back and we are not the one who is gonna take this without retaliating....This implies to the whole bunch of corrupt politician as well....WE THE YOUTH OF THIS COUNTRY HAS DECIDED TO BE PART OF SYSTEM TO CLEAN THIS SYSTEM....SO BE AWARE.....CHANGE IS ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE.....