Opaque voting rules put spotlight on 7 non-party MLAs
Srinagar, Oct 17: The National Conference (NC) and Congress made last-ditch efforts to forge unity ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, following Congress’s public announcement that it would not contest the ‘riskier’ fourth seat. As a result of negotiations, Congress leaders claim they had nearly agreed to field a candidate for the competitive seat; however, the issue of independents played spoilsport in the final moments of the unity talks. The differences arose from the voting method of independent MLAs, who are not required to show their marked ballots to polling agents-unlike party-affiliated legislators.
With the Rajya Sabha election just a week away, all eyes are on seven independent MLAs-five of whom support the government and two who are aligned with the fragmented bloc of Kashmir-based opposition in the Assembly. Sajjad Lone of Peoples’ Conference and Mehraj Mallik of AAP are the other two MLAs who will be decisive to the second seat out of two notified under EC’s 3rd Notification.
Among the five supporting the government are Satish Sharma, a minister in the Omar Abdullah-led administration; Pyare Lal (MLA, Inderwal); Muzaffar Khan (MLA, Rajouri); Choudhary Akram (MLA, Surankote); and Dr. Rameshwar Singh (MLA, Bani). These MLAs did not contest the 2024 Assembly elections on the ticket of any recognized or registered party and won as independents. They submitted letters of support to Omar Abdullah when he staked his claim to form the government in October last year.
In the House, Sheikh Khursheed (MLA, Langate) and Shabir Ahmed Kulley are the two independents aligned with the opposition bloc. Kulley contested the last Assembly election as an independent after being denied a party ticket.
Interestingly, he also accompanied the NC’s Rajya Sabha candidates to the office of the Returning Officer on October 13, when they submitted their nomination papers.
Khursheed’s Awami Ittehad Party does not exist in the records of the Election Commission of India, and he contested the election as an independent.
With the BJP just one vote short of victory on the fourth Rajya Sabha seat, the entire attention has shifted to independent MLAs in the Assembly given opaque voting rules for them.
According to officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI), open ballot voting applies only in elections to the Rajya Sabha. “Every political party which has members in the Assembly can appoint an authorized agent to verify whom its members have voted for. The authorized agent will be seated inside the polling station in seats provided by the Returning Officer. In the case of MLAs who are members of political parties, after they mark their vote and before inserting the ballot into the box, they are required to show the marked ballot paper to the authorized agent of their party,” the officials said.
However, they added that independent MLAs are required to insert the marked ballot paper into the ballot box without showing it to any agent. “If they display their vote to anyone, including the authorized agent of any political party, it is liable to be cancelled,” they said.
RO sends ballot to Kathua jail for MLA Mehraj Malik
Srinagar, Oct 17: The Returning Officer for the Rajya Sabha polls has sent postal ballot papers to the Superintendent of District Jail Kathua, where Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Mehraj Malik is detained under the Public Safety Act, 1978, to enable him to cast his vote.
Sources said that Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, Manoj Pandita-who is serving as the Returning Officer for the polls-has dispatched the ballot papers via post to Malik so that he can participate in the election. “Three ballot papers have been sent because every MLA is entitled to cast three votes in the election,” they said, adding that the ballot papers were sent in a sealed cover.
The Jail Superintendent is also required to sign a declaration to verify Malik’s identity.
As per the rules, Malik can cast his vote before the scheduled polling date on October 24.
The Representation of the People Act, 1951 permits detainees to exercise their voting rights but disallows voting rights to undertrials and convicts lodged in jails. Since Mehraj Malik is currently detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA), he has been provided the postal ballot facility.
According to sub-section (5) of Section 62 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals confined in prison-whether serving a sentence of imprisonment, undergoing transportation, or held in police custody-are not entitled to vote. However, the proviso to this sub-section clarifies that the restriction does not apply to individuals subjected to preventive detention under any law currently in force.
This legal provision makes it unambiguously clear that persons under preventive detention retain their right to vote in all elections.
After the announcement of the Rajya Sabha polls, the Election Commission had written to the Jammu & Kashmir administration seeking details of detained elector(s) for the Rajya Sabha elections, along with information about the prison(s) where they are lodged. “The J&K administration submitted details of Malik to the Returning Officer for the polls,” they added.
