With polls in Jammu and Kashmir round the corner, district election commission officials have come out with a novel idea of educating Army men about how to cast vote with postal ballots in the forthcoming elections.
Deputy Commissioner of Leh Simrandeep Singh, who doubles up as District Electoral Officer, felt the need to make aware the army men, mainly from Ladakh Scouts and Guides regiment, constituting around 5,000 postal ballots.
"I thought about this because 60 per cent of votes were rejected in the last Parliamentary polls only because the form was not filled properly," Singh told PTI here.
Singh was himself at the forefront of educating nearly 600 army men today about the procedures involved casting a postal ballot.
"Why waste a vote when precaution can be taken at the beginning," Singh, a 2008-batch IAS officer, said.
28-year-old Singh feels that every vote should count.
"I am sure we will have a drastic reduction in number of invalid votes this time," he added.
Ladakh Parliamentary seat saw a close finish with BJP's Thupstan Chhewang defeating his rival by mere 36 votes.
Postal ballots are generally seen as a deciding factor in the four Assembly seats -- Kargil, Nubra, Zanaskar and Leh.
"Therefore, a conscious decision was taken to ensure that every vote counts," Singh said.
