Whoops, my faith in India is shaken
Thousands of people who have been denied the right to exercise their franchise have no remedy against the injustice committed on them by the election officers.
Though the right to vote is a statutory right, the Supreme Court has held that its breach "should not come in the way of the process of fulfiling the high objective of bringing into existence a House or an institution contemplated by the Constitution for enabling democratic functioning of the country".
So who is a voter?
The first and foremost requirement for being a voter is that his or her name must figure in the electoral rolls.
If the name is missing, the right to vote by such a person ceases to exist, even if he or she is carrying the photo identity card issued by the Election Commission.
Though the apex court had, in several judgments, deprecated lapses in properly revising the electoral rolls, it has not bestowed the right on a victim voter to seek judicial remedy against such a grave offence. -- No remedy for missing names (The Times of India)
Comments
Gee Ed. Don't you think you're being a tad hard on India. The miracle is not that there are problems with India's elections but that they come off as well as they do with participation rates higher, especially among the less educated, than in the U.S. This occurs even though the consituencies for the Lok Sabha are far larger than any in the U.S. so individual voters have less of a chance of influencing the outcome. The last fact may be some source of comfort in terms of the wrongful exclusion of voters. India has also attempted to institute electronic voting around the country. One could probably make a case that India has done far more since their last election to improve their election process than we have despite the 2000 debacle. Oh India is far from perfect on these issues and there is much to criticize, including the facts that you mention. And don't look at their redistricting if you don't want to get even more appalled though at least they don't let the politicians do it! Nevertheless, I don't think we should underestimate India's achievements in this area.
Posted by: David Lublin | April 27, 2004 1:22 PM