The 14 Corps of the Army has been given a special award for best electoral practices in the field of postal balloting during the recently held Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The award by Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Electoral Officer was presented on the National Voters' Day, being observed today, to Col S S Patil, Commandant, Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre, on behalf of the 14 Corps, in a state level function held in police auditorium here, officials said.
The Leh-based 14 Corps, which looks after the strategic Ladakh sector, extended proactive support to a campaign launched by the District Election Officer or Deputy Commissioner, Leh, to encourage the Army personnel to vote through the medium of postal ballots.
The joint civil-military partnership led to massive participation of soldiers, through postal ballots, in the Assembly elections which was 94 per cent, from a meagre 38 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections, in a gap of only six months, they said.
Moreover, the rejection rate of the postal ballots (due to procedural mistakes) fell from 52 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections to nine per cent in the state elections, the officials said.
A series of training sessions were conducted by the Leh election officials in all parts of the district, including the southern Siachen glacier, to educate the soldiers of the Ladakh scouts.
The Army extended full support to these trainings and conducted similar sessions through its own officers in those locations where the civil authorities could not reach due to difficult terrain or lack of time, they said.
The extension of Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign to armed forces was long due as the soldiers have often complained about their poor participation in electoral process due to lack of awareness and service commitments.
The Supreme Court had also last year given directions to EC to allow defence personnel to vote from peace stations. The case study of Leh is expected to be replicated by the EC all over the country in future elections, the officials said.
